Gun attack at French satirical magazine

Charlie Hebdo, which published charactuers of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, had its main office in Paris attacked this morning by multiple armed men. There was prolonged gunfire as the men opened fire within the offices with the French police confirming that 12 people have died in the attack including two police officers.

The AP are reporting that security has been increased at places of worship, media offices and transportation as the attackers escaped the scene and have not as yet been captured.

France’s President, Francois Hollande, has visited the scene and commented;

Nobody in France should think that they can behave against the principle of the Republic and harm the spirit of the Republic, embodied by a newspaper,” President Hollande said. “Today I am thinking about the victims… We should do whatever we can to find those responsible and to call for national unity.”

This barbaric act of violence is sickening and the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam condemns it completely and we stand together with the people of France to mourn those that have been lost to this horrendous violence.

As a Muslim, killing innocent people in the name of Islam is much, much more offensive to me than any cartoon can ever be. #CharlieHebdo — Iyad El-Baghdadi (@iyad_elbaghdadi) January 7, 2015

The rights or wrongs of what Charlie Hebdo publish, in the name of satire, are not something to debate right now, but as the above tweet points out, the murder of innocent people far outweighs, and is more offensive to Muslims than any cartoon could ever be.