PARIS – France began a day of national mourning on Thursday, as police hunted suspected Islamist attackers who left 12 people dead at the Paris offices of a satirical magazine, the official statement said.
The youngest of three suspects in the assault turned himself in to police in Charleville-Mezieres, some 70 kilometres north-east of Reims, one of the areas where police were carrying out their search.
It stated that he was in custody, but had not been charged.
According to the report, eight journalists, including the editor of magazine, Charlie Hebdo and several well-known cartoonists, were among the dead.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”8″]
Two masked gunmen with automatic rifles stormed the offices of magazine in central Paris on Wednesday. [pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]
Witnesses said that the attackers cried “Allah is great’’ and “we have avenged the prophet.’’
However, two other suspects, brothers named as Cherif and Said Kouachi, aged 32 and 34 respectively, were still on the run.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]
Police said that they were likely “armed and dangerous,’’ as they had published the men’s photographs in an appeal for
witnesses.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]
Cherif was convicted in 2008 for helping to send recruits to fight for al-Qaeda in Iraq and sentenced to three years in prison.
The identity cards of the brothers, both French nationals born in Paris were found by police in their abandoned car.
Charlie Hebdo is known for its unwavering stance on freedom of expression, has printed cartoons of the prophet Mohammed in the past, and was firebombed after publishing similar material in 2011.
Tens of thousands of people gathered in cities across France overnight to remember those killed.
The victims at the magazine died for “freedom,’’ French President Francois Hollande said, describing them as “our heroes’’ and declaring a day of national mourning.
However, flags would fly at half-mast for three days. (dpa/NAN)