At least 12 people have been killed by gunmen armed with Kalashnikovs and a rocket-launcher, after they opened fire in the offices of French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, Paris prosecutors say.



French police say two police officers are among those killed.
At least 10 were also injured in the shooting at the Paris offices of the newspaper that has been firebombed in the past after it published cartoons in 2011 joking about Muslim leaders.

Deputy Mayor of Paris Bruno Julliard earlier said "six people are seriously injured", including a policeman.
Union official Rocco Contento described the scene inside the offices as "carnage".
French president Francois Hollande headed to the scene of the attack and the government said it was raising France's security level to the highest notch.

"This is a terrorist attack, there is no doubt about it," Mr Hollande said.
The British Prime Minister David Cameron described the attack as "sickening".

"The murders in Paris are sickening. We stand with the French people in the fight against terror and defending the freedom of the press," he said in a message on Twitter.

A source close to the investigation said two men "armed with a Kalashnikov and a rocket-launcher" stormed the building in central Paris and "fire was exchanged with security forces."

The source said gunmen had hijacked a car and knocked over a pedestrian as he sped away.

The publication's cartoonist Renaud Luzier earlier told AFP there were "casualties" after the incident.
"About a half an hour ago two black-hooded men entered the building with Kalashnikovs (guns)," another witness told French iTELE TV News.

"A few minutes later we heard lots of shots," he said, adding that the men were then seen fleeing the building.


The satirical weekly has courted continued controversy in the past with its depiction of news and current affairs.
The publication gained notoriety in February 2006 when it reprinted cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed that had originally appeared in Danish daily Jyllands-Posten, causing fury across the Muslim world.

Its offices were fire-bombed in November 2011 when it published a cartoon of Mohammed and under the title "Charia Hebdo".

Despite being taken to court under anti-racism laws, the magazine continued to publish controversial cartoons of the Muslim prophet.
In September 2012 Charlie Hebdo published cartoons of a naked Mohammed as violent protests were taking place in several countries over a low-budget film, titled "Innocence of Muslims", which was made in the United States and insulted the prophet.

French schools, consulates and cultural centres in 20 Muslim countries were briefly closed along with embassies for fear of retaliatory attacks.
Editor Stephane Charbonnier has received death threats and lives under police protection.

Its latest tweet was a cartoon of the Islamic State militant group leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Paris shooting: at least 12 people killed, around 10 injured, at offices of French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)