An apparent terrorist-related shooting at French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo left at least 11 people dead and wounded 10 more in Paris on Wednesday, police said.
French media reported that armed men wearing black hoods stormed the offices of the publication in a suburb of the city before firing automatic weapons in a scene that police described as “carnage.”
Xavier Castaing, head of communications for the Paris police prefecture, confirmed the deaths, the Associated Press reported. Luc Poignant, an official of the SBP police union, said the attackers escaped in two vehicles. Eyewitness images taken at the time of the attack show two gunmen apparently abandoning a car
A massive manhunt is now underway across the French capital to find the perpetrators who may still be heavily armed.
Analysis: Hugh Schofield, BBC News, Paris
The BBC's Hugh Schofield in Paris says Charlie Hebdo is part of a venerable tradition in French journalism going back to the scandal sheets that denounced Marie-Antoinette in the run-up to the French Revolution.
The tradition combines left-wing radicalism with a provocative scurrility that often borders on the obscene, he says.
Back in the 18th Century, the target was the royal family, and the rumour-mongers wrought havoc with tales - often illustrated - of sexual antics and corruption at the court at Versailles.
Nowadays there are new dragons to slay: politicians, the police, bankers and religion. Satire, rather than outright fabrication, is the weapon of choice.
But that same spirit of insolence that once took on the ancien regime - part ribaldry, part political self-promotion - is still very much on the scene.
Charlie Hebdo is a prime exponent. Its decision to mock the Prophet Muhammad is entirely consistent with its historic raison d'etre, Schofield says.
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