BBC:

Gunmen have shot dead 12 people at the Paris office of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in an apparent militant Islamist attack. Four of the magazine's well-known cartoonists, including its editor, were among those killed, as well as two police officers. A major police operation is under way to find three gunmen who fled by car. President Francois Hollande said there was no doubt it had been a terrorist attack "of exceptional barbarity". The masked attackers opened fire with assault rifles in the office and exchanged shots with police in the street outside before escaping by car. They later abandoned the car in Rue de Meaux, northern Paris. Witnesses said they heard the gunmen shouting "we have avenged the Prophet Muhammad".

Gawker has a rundown of controversial Charlie Hebdo cartoons, covers, and headlines. Christopher Hitchens defended mocking Islam—he defended mocking all religions—in this piece for Slate in 2006. Today's attack is certain to fuel the rising tide of anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant xenophobia in Europe. The Guardian has the best ongoing coverage.


"A drawing has never killed anyone." —StĂ©phane “Charb” Charbonnier, editor in chief of Charlie Hebdo, who was murdered today in the attack.


Salman Rushdie:

Religion, a mediaeval form of unreason, when combined with modern weaponry becomes a real threat to our freedoms. This religious totalitarianism has caused a deadly mutation in the heart of Islam and we see the tragic consequences in Paris today. I stand with Charlie Hebdo, as we all must, to defend the art of satire, which has always been a force for liberty and against tyranny, dishonesty and stupidity. ‘Respect for religion’ has become a code phrase meaning ‘fear of religion.’ Religions, like all other ideas, deserve criticism, satire, and, yes, our fearless disrespect.


UPDATE 4:13 PM: NBC says one suspect has been killed and two have been arrested:

One of the suspects in the Paris attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine has been killed and the two others are in custody, two senior U.S. counterterrorism officials told NBC News.

Authorities earlier had identified the three men as Said Kouachi and Cherif Kouachi, both French and in their early 30s, and 18-year-old Hamyd Mourad, whose nationality wasn't immediately clear.