A DECADE ago today, al-Qaeda terrorists stormed the satirical French newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris – resulting in three days of terror.
Brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi, 32 and 34, brutally ambushed the paper’s offices, killing 11 people in vengeance for printing cartoons of the prophet Muhammad.
Gunmen flee the offices of French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris in 2015[/caption]
A mural, by artist Christian Guemy, dedicated to the staff of the Charlie Hebdo newspaper who were killed by terrorist gunmen in January 2015[/caption]
French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo has released a special front-page of its edition to mark ten years since the 2015 attack[/caption]
CHARLIE HEBDO
On Wednesday 7 January 2015, the two al-Qaeda gunmen stormed the offices of the Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris.
The Kouachi brothers shot and killed the caretaker, Frederic Boisseau, before forcing cartoonist Corinne Rey to open the second-floor office where the editorial meeting was happening.
The terrorist brothers stormed the meeting room, killing police officer Franck Brinsolaro, editor Stephane Charbonnier, and cartoonists Jean Cabut, Georges Wolinski, Bernard Verlhac, and Philippe Honore.
Economist and writer Bernard Maris, psychiatrist Elsa Cayat, copy editor Mustapha Ourrad and visitor Michel Renaud were also killed in the heinous attack.
Five minutes after the attacks, the evil Kouachi brothers came onto the street and got into their car to flee the scene.
They attempted to drive north but got into a shootout with a police vehicle where one brave cop, Ahmed Merabet, got wounded before one of the brothers shot him in the head.
A devastating 12 people were killed in the heinous attacks – eight journalists, two police officers, a caretaker and a visitor.
People holding cardboards reading ‘Je suis Charlie’ (I am Charlie) take part in a Unity rally ‘Marche Republicaine’ in 2015[/caption]
French cartoonist of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo Jean Cabut aka Cabu posing in his apartment – he was killed in the attacks[/caption]
French caricaturist Bernard Verlhac aka Tignous was killed[/caption]
French cartoonist Wolinski was brutally murdered in the heinous attack[/caption]
The terror two end up crashing their car and hijacking another vehicle, a Renault Clio, where they chillingly told the driver: “If the media ask you anything, tell them it’s al-Qaeda in Yemen.”
That evening, a vigil was held on Place de la Republique which was one of many that occurred around France and the world.
THREE DAYS OF TERROR
The next day, news of another heinous attack in Paris emerged.
Clarissa Jean-Phillipe, a 25-year-old trainee policewoman was shot dead in the southern suburb of Montrougue by Islamic State terrorist Amedy Coulibaly.
Initially French authorities said they were looking for two people in connection with the attack – Coulibaly, along with his wife Hayat Boumeddiene.
Bernard Maris was killed in the 7 January attack[/caption]
Amedy Coulibaly shot a policewoman and four hostages at a kosher grocery in Paris[/caption]
Cops had thought the shooting was unrelated to the Charlie Hebdo attack, but it later emerged that the Montrouge gunmen and the Kouachi brothers were familiar with each other.
The same day, the Kouachi terror brothers were seen heavily armed and wearing balaclavas driving north through Picardy.
They robbed a petrol station north-east of Paris, zooming off with assault rifles and terrifying rocket launchers visible in the back of their getaway car.
A gargantuan manhunt took place in a large wooded area nearby – but to no avail.
The next day, the two gunmen hijacked a grey Peugeot 206 in the village of Montagny-Sainte-Felicite after they dumped the Renault they were driving.
They seized a teacher’s vehicle who she said were carrying weapons, including a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.
Another shootout occurred between the brothers and cops on a motorway which resulted in no casualties.
The brothers drove into an industrial estate north-east of Paris in the village of Dammartin-en-Goële where they took a hostage in a printing works.
An injured person is transported to an ambulance after a shooting, at the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo’s office, in Paris[/caption]
Pallbearers carry the coffin of late satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo cartoonist Bernard Verlhac, known as Tignous[/caption]
Hundreds of armed officers surrounded the building, holding snipers while helicopters circled overhead, completely sealing off any escape route – resulting in a heart-stopping, eight-hour standoff.
In the early evening, smoke was seen rising from the print works as a result of explosions and gunfire.
The Kouachi brothers emerged from the building, firing at police.
The terrorists were killed in the shoot-off, while two cops were left injured.
It later emerged the brothers had released the hostage and that another man had survived the terrifying ordeal by hiding in the building’s cafeteria.
The attackers weren’t aware he was there and was apparently communicating intelligence to police by text message.
Picture shows pictures of the 12 victims and the message and signature written by Britain’s Prince Harry in a book of condolence at the French embassy[/caption]
Police officers block a road near an industrial area where the suspects in the shooting attack at the satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo headquarters were[/caption]
Cops in Dammartin-en-Goele, some 40 kilometres north-east of Paris[/caption]
Meanwhile the Montrouge shooter Amedy Coulibaly entered and attacked a Jewish supermarket in Porte de Vincennes, Paris.
He murdered four Jewish hostages and held fifteen during the siege where he demanded the Charlie Hebdo shooters – the Kouachi brothers – to not be harmed.
A mere few minutes after the printworks siege came to an end, at around 17:30 local time, explosions were heard at the Paris supermarket as special forces honed in on murderer Coulibaly.
Coulibaly had knelt for evening prayers when elite commandos stormed the supermarket, killing the terrorist and freeing the 15 hostages.
Days after the attacks that shook the world, 4 million French people marched in solidarity.
The slogan “Je suis Charlie” also went viral worldwide on social media.
Police officers block a road near the industrial site where the brothers were hiding[/caption]
A person holds a sign that reads in French ‘I am Charlie’ during a gathering in solidarity[/caption]
Tributes to the victims of the attack on the Paris offices of satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo are seen outside the French embassy in London in 2015[/caption]
TRIALS OF ACCOMPLICES
In December 2020, a Paris court found 14 people guilty of acting as accomplices in the 2015 attacks.
On the eve of the trial, Charlie Hebdo republished the cartoons from 2015 of the Prophet Mohammed along with pictures of the murdered staff members, captioned: “All of this, for this.”
Of the 14 defendants, 11 appeared in court while three were tried in absentia, or in absence.
All 14 were found guilty on various charges, from belonging to a criminal network to direct complicity in the January 2015 attacks.
Terrorism charges were dropped for six of the 11 defendants in court who were found guilty of lesser crimes.
One of those who wasn’t in court was Hayat Boumeddine, the widow of terrorist Coulibaly.
Boumeddine was found guilty of financing terrorism and belonging to a criminal terrorist network and sentenced to 30 years.
She fled to Syria a week before the attacks, and her whereabouts still remains unknown.
STABBING ATTACK IN 2020
In September 2020, a man targeted two individuals standing outside Charlie Hebdo’s former offices.
Suspect Zaheer Mahmood, who is on trial for the attack, didn’t know that the magazine had moved offices when carrying out the assault, Euro News reports.
Both victims survived.
A woman wearing a French national flag holds a ‘We are Charlie’ sign during a march[/caption]
French firefighters load one of the three people injured into a waiting ambulance near the former offices of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo[/caption]
French firefighters load an injured person into a waiting ambulance near the former offices in 2020[/caption]
During interrogations by cops, Mahmood said one of the drawings of prophet Muhammed, which had been republished in September 2020, was a cause for his “anger”.
In a video shared on social media, he said on the morning of the attack: “Here, today, on Friday 25 September, I’m going to go and revolt against that”.
Mahmood faces charges of terrorist murder and five other defendants on trial are accused of criminal terrorist conspiracy, according to documents seen by France Info.
TEN YEARS ON
Ten years after the attack that killed 12, Charlie Hebdo have unveiled a special edition 32-page issue.
The front page features a cartoon sat on the butt of a gun celebrating the paper’s existence, dubbing itself as “Indestructible”.
Laurent Sourisseau, the cartoonist and publication director who survived the 2015 massacre, said in an editorial: “Satire has a virtue which has helped us through these tragic years: optimism.
“If you feel like laughing, you feel like living.
“Laughter, irony and caricature are expressions of optimism.
“Whatever happens, dramatic or happy, the desire to laugh will never disappear.”
French President Emmanuel Macron and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo will commemorate the 2015 attacks through various events in Paris.
There are also other remembrance ceremonies planned across the country.
Candles, a rose and a sign are placed on the ground as people hold a candle lit vigil at the Old Harbour in Marseille in 2015[/caption]
An aerial view of people attending the Unity rally[/caption]