Armed police and special anti-terror units are currently conducting a major manhunt for two suspects - Cherif Kouachi and Said Kouachi, who are brothers. The gunmen killed 12 people on Wednesday, when they stormed the Paris office of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. The country is still reeling from the shock.
France is in mourning. Across the country, people observed a minute's silence at midday…to show respect for twelve people killed by gunmen in Paris on Wednesday. The brutal nature of the attack has shocked…and stunned the world.
"They even did a role call of the people who were in the building before shooting them one by one," defense analyst Francois Heisbourg said. "Because they wanted to be sure that they were getting the big names. So yes, this was very well planned. And, unfortunately, it was also well executed. It was a commando style operation - a little bit like the attacks in Bombay in India a few years ago. It's that sort of level of professionalism."
France has launched a national appeal for information on the whereabouts of two brothers suspected of carrying out the attack. Police say they are still at large and are "armed and dangerous".
Meanwhile, gunshots rang out again in Paris on Thursday morning. A policewoman was killed in a shootout in the south of the city. Police sources could not immediately confirm a link to Wednesday's killings.
France's security threat level is at its highest and the French prime minister said he feared there could be further attacks.
Surviving members of Charlie Hebdo have vowed to publish the satirical weekly next Wednesday, despite the murder of its most senior journalists-a show of courage, and defiance, echoed across France.
Defiant but deeply wounded. People in France are really struggling to understand how this happened. And reports that the two main suspects were known to the intelligence services leave many asking how they were able to carry out this attack.