Paris: Hollande decries barbaric murder of journalists

(Vatican Radio) Police hunted Thursday for two heavily armed men, one with possible links to al-Qaida, in the methodical killing of 12 people at a satirical newspaper that caricatured the Prophet Muhammed, as France began a day of national mourning for what its president called “an act of exceptional barbarism.”

One of the suspects, Cherif Kouachi, had already served time on terrorism charges and had a history of funneling jihadi fighters to Iraq.

He and his brother, Said, should be considered “armed and dangerous,” French police said in a bulletin early Thursday, appealing for witnesses after a fruitless search in the city of Reims, in French Champagne country.

A third man, surrendered at a police station in a small town in the eastern region after learning his name was linked to the attacks in the news and social media, said Paris prosecutor's spokeswoman Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre. She did not specify his relationship to the Kouachi brothers.

France raised its terror alert system to the maximum and bolstered security with more than 800 extra soldiers to guard media offices, places of worship, transport and other sensitive areas. A nationwide minute of silence was planned for noon. 

French President Francois Hollande has condemned the 'exceptional barbarity' of the attack. Speaking to reporters at the scene of the violence, Hollande said, “We are threatened because we are a country of liberty,” and called for national unity.

From the floor of the British House of Commons, Prime Minister David Cameron also decried the attack. “"The murders in Paris are sickening,” Cameron said. “We stand with the French people in the fight against terror and defending the freedom of the press,” he continued.