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AMENDED UPDATE:
Although NBC, Drudge Report, Associated Press reported earlier today that one suspect was dead and two in custody, those assertions appear to be retracted now, and the latest report is that one suspect is in custody and the other two, who appear to be brothers, are still at large.
We will stay tuned.
UPDATE:
The Associated Press, citing police officials, named the suspects as Frenchmen Said Kouachi and Cherif Kouachi. The news agency identified the 18-year-old as Hamyd Mourad. It quoted one official as saying the suspects were linked to a Yemeni terrorist network.
Cherif Kouachi was convicted on terrorism charges in 2008 for helping to send fighters to Iraq’s insurgency and was sentenced to 18 months in prison, AP reported.
NBC News Reports: The gunmen, armed with AK-47s, attacked the offices of Charlie Hebdu, a publication that has enraged Muslims for publishing cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad. On their way in, they killed a maintenance worker, then stormed into an editorial meeting, where they killed eight journalists, including Stephane Charbonnier, the magazine’s editorial director, and Bank of France economist Bernard Maris, a columnist. A security officer and a guest were also gunned down. As they fled, they killed a second police officer.
Eleven other people were injured, four of them critically, officials said.
Because the masked, black-clad gunmen attacked with militaristic precision and left the scene with shouts of “Allahu Akbar,” the killers were suspected to be well-trained Islamic extremists. But their motive and backgrounds are still being investigated.
Older filing: Highest terrorism alert sounded in France after gunmen with automatic weapons murdered 12 persons at the newspaper named “Charlie Hebdo.” The reports coming in say as many more were wounded, including …a video that may be related:”Chilling video initially posted to a Facebook account shows two gunmen open fire on police in a small black car, and then shows them executing one officer as he lays on the sidewalk by shooting him at close range. The masked gunmen are then seen in the video getting into the black car and driving off. The Arabic phrase “Allahu Akbar” can be heard shouted in video of the attack.”
Read more here. And here.
Just by contrast, in Dresden Germany, there have been large anti-Islamic marches and countermarches throughout Germany yesterday and over the last many weeks, with the German Prime Minister saying yesterday there is nothing to fear regarding the newest immigrants. Many would say that is true. If the murders at the newspaper prove to be done by persons claiming Islam as their main affiliation, it will be harder to uphold that idea for some. We will have to wait and see what facts come forth very soon.
from Al Jazeera: “France’s five-million-strong Muslim population is Europe’s largest.[cpe ed. note: 66.03M population total in France, about 2.2 M in Paris]
“I am extremely angry. These are criminals, barbarians. They have sold their soul to hell. This is not freedom. This is not Islam and I hope the French will come out united at the end of this,” said Hassen Chalghoumi, Imam of the Drancy mosque in Paris’s Seine-Saint-Denis northern suburb.
“British Prime Minister David Cameron described the attack as “barbaric” in comments in the U.K. Parliament, saying that London “stands squarely for free speech and democracy.” New York-based advocacy group the Committee to Protect Journalists condemned what its deputy director, Robert Mahoney, called “a brazen assault on free expression in the heart of Europe.””
In the meantime, may all be held, may all families of the dead be comforted. I imagine many immigrant families are cringing to think there may be a connection to their culture and religion, and are tense about a new wave of anti-immgration feeling that may come as a result of the murders at the newspaper. Just this: May all innocents be kept safe from harm no matter what.
graphic via shutterstock.com
