THIS is the first picture showing the bloody scene inside the Charlie Hebdo
office after being raided by Islamist gunmen yesterday.
The chilling photo shows blood in pools and smears across the floor as paper
is strewn around.
Meanwhile the two fugitive brothers suspected of the Paris massacre are
thought to have fled into a forest – as anti-terror cops swoop on a nearby
village and launch house-to-house searches.
Said Kouachi, 34, and Cherif Kouachi, 33, are at the centre of a huge manhunt
after the shootings at the magazine’s offices.
The masked pair were allegedly spotted with AK-47s and rocket launchers
earlier today, 50 miles north-east of Paris, in a hijacked grey Renault Clio
with covered-up number plates.
They are said to have stolen food and petrol from a remote service station
before attempting to lose police in the 32,000-acre woods.
Scores of armed cops swooped on the area near Villers-Cotteret before
converging on nearby Longpont.
Restaurant staff in the village said they saw two armed men abandon a car and
walk into the forest.
Hotel worker Benoit Verdun said: “There are lots of policemen. They are
asking people, ‘Have you seen anybody?’
Police are now swarming among Longpont’s farm buildings and have sealed off
the village with road blocks amid unconfirmed reports the suspects are holed
up in the area.
Officers are also carrying out house-to-house searches in a bid to track down
the two men.
French authorities have mobilised 88,000 officers across the country, while
350 soldiers have been deployed.
Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said national unity was “vital”
and called for calm.
Speaking at a press conference, he said: “We need to be calm and show
that we are not afraid and that we will remain united in this trial.”
Cazeneuve also went on to say security had been stepped up across the French
capital and across the country’s transport network.
Late last night, the third suspect Hamyd Mourad, 18, surrendered to officers
in the Champagne region after hearing his name in connection with the
terrorist bloodbath.
Spooks believe the fanatics behind yesterday’s atrocity could have been
trained in Yemen – a centre for al-Qaeda.
During the attack, the gunmen shouted: “Tell the media that this is al-Qaeda
in Yemen.”
Chilling footage showed injured officer Ahmed Merabet, 42, lying on the
pavement with his arms in an apparent gesture of surrender.
The married cop, thought to be a Muslim, asks the gunman: “Do you want to kill
me?”
The attacker replies “OK, chief” – before executing him with a bullet to the
head.
Police have revealed they found a dozen petrol bombs, two jihadist flags and
Said’s identity card in the killers’ abandoned getaway car.
A source said: “This shows their Islamist radicalisation and that they had
possibly planned other acts with the petrol bombs.”
Seven arrests were made overnight, sad to include friends and associates of
the three suspects, including the brother-in-law of one of the alleged
fugitive gunmen.
Anti-terror cops stormed a flat in Reims, north-eastern France, last night,
where officers took samples from inside.
Security has been bolstered at UK ports in the wake of the attacks, Downing
Street announced today – but it said there is no specific threat to Britain.
Armed cops have also stepped up patrols at St Pancras station in central
London to “reassure” the public.
Witnesses to the attack said the area became a war zone as two Islamist
fanatics in black military-style gear and armed with assault rifles and a
rocket launcher stormed the office just after 10.30am.
They murdered 12 people including eight journalists and two cops before
fighting a gun battle with police as they fled alongside a third man.
The suspects drove off in a black Citroen before stopping the car and
murdering Officer Merabet.
A witness said: “As the policeman got up he saw the two armed men running
towards him and firing.
“As he tried to get away, he fell again after being hit. He lay there pointing
his gun at them and he must have been injured because he didn’t move any
more, then they surrounded him and one of them shot him in the head.”
Despite the atrocity, it was confirmed today that Charlie Hebdo will come out
as usual next week.
Several French media outlets have offered to help with publication, including
satirical mag Le Canard Enchaine, which vowed to assist the survivors
“whether barbarians like it or not”.
Vigils were held across the world, from New York to London’s Trafalgar Square,
as people united in mourning.
It emerged that of the brothers, Cherif, had been jailed in 2008 for being
part of a group sending jihadi fighters to Iraq.
Sometimes going by the name Abu Issen, he was well known to anti-terror
police.
After his release, he was named in a police report on the attempted prison
escape of Smain Ait Ali Belkacem, a former member of the Algerian Armed
Islamic Group which carried out a spate of bombings in France in the 1990s.
President Hollande declared a national day of mourning following France’s
worst terror attack since 1961 and attended a crisis cabinet meeting.
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said police are on high alert to
“ensure the safety of schools, places of worship and department stores”.
He added: “Those who committed the attack must know that the republic will
catch them.”
The killers struck during a weekly editorial magazine at Charlie Hebdo, which
printed cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in 2011.
They shot a man dead at the office entrance and then forced the mag’s designer
Corrine Rey to enter a security code that let them into the building.
She said: “I had gone to collect my daughter from day care and as I arrived in
front of the door of the paper’s building, two hooded and armed men
threatened us.
“They wanted to go inside, to go upstairs. I entered the code.”
The men raced to the second floor and yelled “we have avenged the prophet —
we’ve killed Charlie Hebdo”, and “Allahu Akbar” — meaning “God is great” —
as they gunned down their victims.
Corrine, who hid under a desk with her daughter, said: “It lasted five
minutes. They spoke perfect French and claimed to be from al-Qaeda.”
The killers are said to have asked for magazine editor Stephane Charbonnier by
name, shouting “Where is Charb?” before opening fire.
Among the murdered journalists were two cartoonists. Other victims included a
magazine shareholder and a guest.
A second guest survived by hurling himself on the floor.
One of the police officers killed was named last night as Franck Brinsolaro.
It is thought he was shot dead in the offices.
He was a protection officer for Mr Charbonnier, who had received death threats
after protests from Muslims over the cartoons.
Witness Florence Pouvil, a saleswoman who works opposite the building, said:
“They weren’t just firing inside the offices, they were firing in the street
too.
“There were two guys who came out of the building and shot everywhere. We hid
on the floor, we were terrified.
“They were wearing military clothes. They were soldiers.”
Another witness said: “It was an extremely violent scene, several rooms with
bodies on the floor, pools of blood, critically injured people.”
A further 11 people were wounded in the attack.
President Hollande said: “Today the whole republic has been attacked.
“The republic represents freedom of expression, the republic is culture, is
democracy — and that was what was being threatened by the assassins. But
nothing can divide us, nothing can separate us. Nothing will make us
renounce our determination. We will win.”
France was already on high alert for extremist attacks after several incidents
just before Christmas.
Cars were driven at shoppers in Dijon and Nantes and a man with a knife
attacked police in Tours.
David Cameron yesterday said the attack was an “an appalling terrorist
outrage”.
Speaking alongside German leader Angela Merkel following Downing Street talks,
he added: “We must never allow the values that we hold dear, of democracy,
of freedom of speech, to be damaged by these terrorists. We stand absolutely
united with the French people against terrorism.”
Mrs Merkel said: “All of us that live in Europe strongly condemn these attacks
and our thoughts go out to the French people.”
The two leaders later phoned President Hollande to offer their sympathy and
support.
The PM has offered the assistance of British spies to help the French probe –
while Home Secretary Theresa May today chaired a meeting of the Government’s
Cobra emergency committee.
The Queen sent her condolences to the families of those murdered. The White
House condemned the attack in “the strongest possible terms”.
President Barack Obama said: “France and the great city of Paris offer the
world a timeless example that will endure well beyond the hateful vision of
these killers.”
At Prime Minister’s Questions, Labour’s Ed Miliband told a hushed Commons: “I
join the Prime Minister in expressing horror and outrage at the events in
Paris.”
Journalists across Britain spoke out on social media to express their
solidarity with Charlie Hebdo’s staff.
Private Eye editor Ian Hislop said the French magazine’s victims “paid a very
high price for exercising their comic liberty”.
