Gunmen Armed With Rocket Launchers And Kalashnikovs Killed 11 People Paris

At least 11 people were killed and five left critically wounded today when armed gunmen carried out a 'massacre' at the offices of a notoriously anti-Islamic satirical magazine in Paris.

Two masked men brandishing Kalashnikovs and rocket launchers burst into the Charlie Hebdo headquarters, opening fire on staff.

By midday, there were reports of up to 11 people dead and 10 wounded, five critically, including journalists, administrative staff, and police officers who attended the scene.

Officers were involved in a gunfight with the men, who escaped in a hijacked car and sped away from the 15th arrondissement office, towards east Paris. 

As well as the AK47 assault rifles, there were also reports of a rocket propelled grenade being used.

When shots rang out, it is thought that three policemen on bicycles were the first to respond

'There was a loud gunfire and at least one explosion,' said an eye witness. 'When police arrived there was a mass shoot-out. The men got away by car.'  

A police official, Luc Poignant, said he was aware of one journalist dead and several injured, including three police officers.

At the time, the editor-in-chief of the magazine, Stephane Charbonnier, said Islam could not be excluded from freedom of the press.

He said: 'If we can poke fun at everything in France, if we can talk about anything in France apart from Islam or the consequences of Islamism, that is annoying.' 

Mr Charbonnier, also known as Charb, said he did not see the attack on the magazine as the work of French Muslims, but of what he called 'idiot extremists'.