Great. 12 are dead four in critical condition. The gunman on the loose at this hour. The chilling picture posted on twitter, one of the attackers holding a gun as anotherer. Lies on the ground a Police Officer. These are new pictures in to cnn from the scene. The injured being put on stretchers and taken away in ambulances. The assailants were armed with kalashnikovs and machine guns and possibly a rocketpropelled grenade launcher. French president hollande says theres no doubt this was a terrorist attack. He called an emergency cabinet meeting. Were were devoting the majority of this hour to this. Jim bitterman joins us live from paris. The bottom line the gunmen and unclear exactly how many right now are still on the loose. Reporter absolutely. President hollande said they would be pursued for as long as it takes. However, he hasnt been able to make good on the promise because the authorities are not telling us they caught anybody. They seemed to make their getaway quite calmly in a black sedan, so calmly in fact that one of the gunmen drops a shoe and he stops to pick up the shoe before they drive off. Apparently in their escape they also may have heard another person, a pedestrian who was in the area as they drove away but the main damage was done at the offices of the newspaper. 12 people dead as you mentioned, four critical condition. Were not able to define who exactly was killed and injured in this attack simply because the bodies are still being taken away from the scene at this hour. The police have encircled the area and theres a steady stream of ambulances coming and going at the newspaper. The incident is over but nonetheless they left things in place the dead bodies until now. Theyre just now taking the bodies away anderson. Jim, a couple of things lets drill down on these. First of all do we know for sure how many gunmen were involved . You see at least two gunmen in this video, two gunmen armed with ak47s. But there are conflicting reports about whether there was another gunmen where there was a driver as well. Reporter as far as question tell wlrp only two people involved the two gunmen are seen to go into the car and one takes the wheel and drives off. As far as i can see theres been no report verifiable report there were any more involved. One of the curious things is that a journalist at a newspaper right next door to Charlie Hebdo the newspaper that was attacked said that the gunmen came to the wrong address first this morning, walked in thought they were at Charlie Hebdo and told they were not, they went next door to the headquarters of Charlie Hebdo a magazine which as you know is quite controversial, it has been in the forefront of attacks on islam, but also on catholic uchl and on jude uchl. Its a very pointed satirical magazine that raises a lot of eyre here but particularly in the Islamic Community and after the prophet mohammad was shown in a cartoon depicted in a cartoon in a fairly rude way back in 2011 the newspaper was fire bombed. Theyre no straungngers to troers controversy. 2011 they were fire bombs and moved to other offices. They were under Police Protection, two Police Officers believed to also be killed and in the still photo were showing there is a Police Officer what appears to be a Police Officer lying on the ground. It looks he has his hands up almost right before the gunman executes him in cold blood right on the street. Is it clear that at this point, the gunmen they obviously seem to have had some training they seem to be calm enough to pick up a shoe that had somehow fallen before actually league. Is it clear if it most of the journalists were killed inside the Newspaper Office . There was a staff meeting going on a weekly staff meeting so if you were going to pick a time to attack this newspaper this was certainly the time. Reporter its clear they had some level of knowledge how the newspaper worked to pick this moment at 11 30 when the maximum number of people would be around. Some of them work from home, they dont go to the Newspaper Offices but they were around for the editorial meeting and as a consequence they seemed to know that and timed the attack accord according accordingly. The way you see them armed in the video is reminiscent of what weve seen in the videos in the middle east isis territory and black clothing and hooded and ammunition belts around their wastes and whatnot. Very much in the same configuration from the fugters out in the middle east anderson. Also in the video, you can hear at least somebody yelling out allahu akbar. Reporter yes, one of our producers listened to the video here as well and heard one of the gunmen say this is vengeance for the prophet mohammad, and also saying we have killed Charlie Hebdo. There are also reports and again earlier reports, you got to point them out for what they are, early reports, they often change because eyewitnesses see Different Things hear Different Things but there are earlier reports that the gunmen were calling out reporters, cartoonists by name. Reporter that has not yet been verified. Its difficult to know whether thats the case or not. I dont think well know that for some time yet when we have a full afteraction report from the police. Its clear they knew what they were doing and who they were hitting. This magazine has been the focus of controversy ever since its been in existence, its whole reason for being. It has a small readership really compared to other magazines in the country, just appeals to people that love to see sort of a sendup of all the icons in france including the religious icons, and so for extremists its clearly a place that would be ground zero for an attack. The police had been protecting it up until recently 24 7. Were not sure what the Protection Level was but of course there were policemen shot today so there must have been some police on the scene. Jim well check in with you as we gain more information. I want to bring in Christiane Amanpour who joins us from live done. Clearly an attack on the press and press freedom, something that journalists throughout the world react to and the death of two plirzolice officers. Youre right, this sebds ands a chill and will do around the western democracies who feel freedom of speech enables them to report and even to engage in satire. David come ron saying they stand with the french in their fight against terror but also in defending the free press. This is a very different attack than other terrorist attacks that weve seen in london several years ago, that we saw in madrid several years ago which were against civilians. Other attacks against military targets. This was specifically aimed at this magazine and at these reporters and cartoonists and france has had a heightened antiterror alert over the last several months the highest are now its raised it to. Over the last several months certainly just before christmas there were a number of attacks by what were described as islamist militants shouting god is great plowing into a Christmas Fair plowing a car into people in Police Station, all of these in regional big cities. So this is something thats incredibley frightening for the french people right now and in europe in general and in france hundreds and hundreds of people have been going from various nations to fight with isis in syria and iraq. So all of this confluence whether this is directly isis related or not comes in an environment of extreme fear tension, and heightened worries about radical and militant and violent islam. Also the confidence of the gunmen in the middle of the day essentially in paris on a street to drive up, they obviously have some level of training able to use kalashnikovs executing a Police Officer right there on the street executing the journalists, these cartoonists we believe in their offices and to mach a getaway and calmly pick up a shoe as youre leaving to not leave anything behind. Its an extraordinary act of terror in broad daylight. Well youre absolutely right. It is and we really do await to see if they manage to capture these people who they are and what or who has sent them and the french president will hold another more formal press conference later this evening that amounts to about 3 00 p. M. Eastern time 8 00 p. M. Paris time and we wait to see whether they have any further information on who these attackers are. It is worth mentioning that Charlie Hebdo has had roundtheclock Police Protection as far as we know since the last few years because as weve reported it was fire bombed several years ago are one other event cartoon cores enflamed passion so much that at the time the french government had to close down schools, consulates and other french government facilities in various muslim countries and there has been loss of life engendered by resistance to the cartoons. In 2006 Charlie Hebdo reprinted cartoons first printed in the danish magazine the danish newspaper. Again, poking fun of islam and the prophet mohammad. That over a period of time led to a lot of violence and a lot of deaths in the middle east and so this is something that Charlie Hebdo stuck to its mandate if you like. Has carved out a place for itself it says we abide by long time tradition in the west in our free democracies especially in france where we have this freedom to poke fun at who are and whatever. This is to point out absurdity and point fund. I interviewed one of the main cartoonists who was in deep trouble over the last several years for one of the previous more controversial magazine covers and i asked him whether he felt that this was sort of going over the top so to speak. He said this is our right, what we do. Its meant to shock. Not meant to be violent or cause violence. The french president himself several years ago criticized some of the magazine covers and so did the white house. Its very difficult situation. The French Interior minister is speaking i want to go to him. Translator to undertake all precautions concerning railway stations cultural institutions a certain number of Public Institutions to reinforce National Security. That is to say police and the mull tear in order to ensure and provides this protection moreover in order to favor the neutralize as soon as possible of the three criminals who carried out this bar barbarous attack it will be ensured that as quickly as possible we request identify the actors teen lead to their arrest so that they will be punished with the severity that their barbarous acts are worthy of. The center of the interior and justice unleashed this follow event the Prime Minister and i activated the interministerial cell which ill carry out throughout the following hours to ensure the coordination of the action of the services of the state and distributing useful information so that french people are constantly informed of the development of the inquiry and that they can be informed also of the conditions of which the entire administration of the state can act and provide security of french people throughout the territory in these particularly grave circumstances, but also to neutralize as quickly as possible the three criminals who were at the origin of this bar barbarous act. Frances interior minister speaking about the security precautions that are being taken, a manhunt now under way for what are believed to be certainly at least two gunmen who are involved in this attack several hours ago on the offices of Charlie Hebdo the satirical newspaper magazine in paris in the northern part of paris. Christiane amanpour is back with us. France now at the highest state of alert. Certainly this is something that france has seen in the 70s, there were algerian terrorists objecting to frances involvement in algeria, but they havent seen this kind of attack in the city of paris for quite some time. Well frankly, never. I covered paris for a long long time during the 90s. There were terrorist attacks but nothing of this scale. Just to point out i believe the interior minister said three criminals, i believe thats what he just said. I believe twice he said three criminals theyre looking for. Yes, this is the worst terror attack that paris has seen in many many many years, and they have now raised their terror alert to the highest its been in many many years. So this is brazen as weve been reporting ever since it started. They went directly to the location of this weekly satirical magazine. They apparently according to one eyewitness who spoke to cnn initially went into the wrong office and were told no thats not what youre looking for. We dont know what they looked like when they went into the office whether they were directed somewhere else but apparently they went into the wrong door first before going on to Charlie Hebdo which has had for the past several years a fairly rigorous roundtheclock Police Protection because of the controversial magazine korz and cartoons that they have publishing for many many years now and because of the threats and attacks that they have endured in the past so this is a very very serious situation as you can see the french are taking it massively seriously. Again, different to others terror attacks that weve all covered oef the last few years in europe this is not directed against random civilians on Public Services transportation et cetera as we saw in lob done or madrid but it is directly against the press and against this particular vein of satirical cartoons against islam and against razical and violent and extremist islam. Anderson . There have been a number of small incidents in france throughout france not in paris through throughout france over the last several weeks and months. Two incidents were cars were driven toward civilians, one other incident but nothing of this scale, nothing of this organized operation. Thats exactly right. Few days before Christmas December 23rd there was an attack in a Police Station shouting god is great as allahu akbar a guy went in slashed a policeman and wounded several others before he was shot dead. Shortly afterwards another person crazed shouting god is great plowing a car into a group of people and a separate incident a Christmas Market was attacked. Some terror has been ruled out. Others investigated and this is also goes to the very heart of what is preoccupying Law Enforcement all over the world right now, especially in europe but also in the United States. The blowback from the violence and rise of isis in syria and iraq and the number the Alarming Number hundreds and hundreds from each individual European Capital heading or european country heading off to fight for isis you know several thousand europeans have gone over to fight for isis. And people in Law Enforcement and in intelligence have been incredibly worried about backlash and about blowback and about them coming to create this kind of havoc and pandemonium in European Capitals. We dont know whether this is related to that. We know this follows ate trend whereby Charlie Hebdo has been under assault for several years because of the cartoons that it has been publishing. Christiane amanpour well check in with you as well. Well take a quick break and give you a new statement from president obama when we come back. You give. And you give. And then you give some more. But sometimes you get. And so you take. Tylenol® cold is Strong Enough for you while childrens tylenol® is gentle enough for them. We give you relief from your cold and flu. You give them everything youve got. Tylenol®. Welcome back to our continuing coverage of the terror ta a taattack has thank has taken place in paris. In have you had yo at least two gun nen we heard from frances interior minister theyre certaining for three attackers who hit the offices of Charlie Hebdo a satirical magazine in existence since the 1970s. President obama has been briefed on the attack. The gunman at large. I bring in joe johns. What is the president saying . Reporter the statement just hitting our email a few minutes ago. The president saying i strong ly condemn the horrific shooting that reportedly killed 12 people. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims of this terrorist attack and the people of france at this difficult time. France is americas oldest ally and has stood shoulder to shoulder with the United States in the fight against terrorists who threaten our shared security and the world time and again, the french people have stood up for the universal values that generations of our people have defended. The president goes on to say france and the great city of paris where this outrageous attack took place offer the world a timeless example that will endure well beyond the hateful vision of these killers. We are in touch with french officials and i directed my administration to provide any assistance that is needed to bring these terrorists to justice. The question is when and if the president will have an opportunity to speak publicly about this. We know hes headed out to detroit to talk about manufacturing and the automobile sector in advance of his state of the Union Address that would be a person time for him to speak publicly about this. However, no indication from the white house that he plans to do so anderson. Joe, appreciate that thanks very much. Obviously theres a lot that u. S. Intelligence intelligence agencies around the world are looking at as well. Obviousl