Dedpop
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- Jun 3, 2014
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Four of France's most revered cartoonists - Stephane Charbonnier, Georges Wolinski, Bernard 'Tignous' Verlhac and Jean Cabut - were among 12 people executed by masked gunmen in Paris today at the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
Two masked men brandishing Kalashnikovs burst into the magazine's headquarters this morning, opening fire on staff, also shooting dead revered economist and contributor Bernard Maris, 68.
Police officers were involved in a gunfight with the 'calm and highly disciplined men', who escaped in a hijacked car, speeding away towards east Paris.
They remain on the loose, along with a third armed man.
Three other victims are reported to be guest editor Michel Renaud, 73-year-old cartoonist Philippe Honoré - known as Honore - and the magazine's proofreader Mustapha Ourad.
Two police officers, Ahmed Merabet and Franck Brinsolaro, are also reportedly among the 12 people that have been killed.
Tributes have been pouring in to 'heroic' men who refused to be intimidated and who saw their work as vital tools of political expression.
Charbonnier, 47, known by his pen name Charb, was the editor of the weekly magazine, and once famously said 'I'd prefer to die than live like a rat'.
He also declared, in the face of animosity from extremists, 'I live under French law, not Koranic law'.
Gifted satirist Cabut, 76, also called Cabu, was Charlie Hebdo's lead cartoonist, Wolinski an 80-year-old who had been drawing cartoons since the 1960s and Tignous a much-admired 57-year-old contributor to the publication.
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