Police in France are searching for 3 gunmen who stormed the offices of a magazine in Paris, killing 12 people.
A number of others were left critically injured after the shooting at the Charlie Hebdo headquarters.
It's reported both the the editor and lead cartoonist are among those killed.
Shortly before it happened, it posted a tweet mockingly wishing the head of Islamic State a Happy New Year.
The magazine is known to court controversy and has regularly featured depictions of the Prophet Muhammad - and in 2011 ran one issue in which it described the prophet as its "guest editor".
French President Francois Hollande has described it as an act of "exceptional barbarism":
Video footage has emerged showing the gunmen shooting and wounding a policeman from middle-distance as they made their getaway from the offices.
The footage then shows the men approaching the injured officer and shooting him again from point-blank range.
A major manhunt is now underway, while the anti-terrorism alert in Paris has been raised to its highest level, with some schools in lockdown and other public buildings being evacuated.
Condemnation of the attack has filtered in from the UK, Germany and Spain, as well as journalists' unions.
Gavan Reilly filed this report for Today FM's National Lunchtime News.
