Rush to buy new Charlie Hebdo issue

Long queues have formed at newsstands in France for the latest edition of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

Five million copies are being printed – a week after Islamist gunmen murdered 12 people at its offices and five others in subsequent attacks in Paris.

The issue has angered some Muslim countries and groups by depicting the Prophet Mohammed on its front cover.

Al-Qaeda in Yemen claimed the attack on the magazine in a video purportedly from the group.

However, the video did not provide any evidence to support its claims. The group had previously welcomed the attack, without acknowledging any role in the operation.

The magazine cover shows a cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad weeping while holding a sign saying “I am Charlie”.

The gunmen are said to have used earlier publication of images of the Prophet as justification for their attack on the magazine.

“I am Charlie” emerged as a message of support for the magazine following the attack on 7 January, which left eight journalists, including its editor, dead in addition to four others.

In a separate attack in Paris two days later, an Islamist gunman killed four Jewish men and took hostages at a kosher shop.

The same attacker is believed to have shot a policewoman the day before.

Survivors’ issue

Editors decided to increase the print run of the latest edition of Charlie Hebdo to five million on Wednesday after copies in France sold out quickly. Three million copies were originally produced, while 60,000 are normally printed each week.

The issue is available in six languages – including English, Arabic and Turkish.

Proceeds will go to the victims’ families.

There are no further caricatures of the Prophet inside the magazine itself but there are several of Islamist extremists.

‘Vengeance’

Charlie Hebdo’s decision to publish another cartoon of the Prophet drew threats from militant Islamist websites and criticism from the Islamic world.

The Islamic State (IS) militant group said on its radio station that the publication was “an extremely stupid act”.

Meanwhile, a new video said to be from al-Qaeda in Yemen (AQAP) was aired on Wednesday saying the group had planned and financed the Charlie Hebdo attacks, which were conducted in “vengeance for the Prophet”.

It added that it was a “success” that the attack on the magazine had “coincided” with the attacks by supermarket gunman Amedy Coulibaly.

Analysis: BBC Security Correspondent Frank Gardner

The video purporting to come from AQAP does appear to be genuine but questions remain over just how closely AQAP was really involved in last week’s Paris attacks. More than two years have elapsed since Said Kouachi, one of the three gunmen, is believed to have slipped out of Yemen after spending time there with al-Qaeda members, including the extremist preacher Anwar Al-Awlaki.

He is mentioned in the video in connection with the attack planning but Al-Awlaki was killed back in 2011 in a US drone strike so, again, that would be a long time to plan such a relatively simple but devastating attack.

It is also odd that AQAP have not issued any so-called “martyrdom videos”, showing the perpetrators giving their justifications ahead of the raid.

These may still be to come but for now it seems the connection between the Paris attackers and AQAP is more one of inspiration, ideology and training rather than close direction and leadership.

Coulibaly had pledged allegiance to IS in a video message while the Charlie Hebdo attackers, Said and Cherif Kouachi, had said they were acting on behalf of AQAP.

Coulibaly had also said they had co-ordinated the attacks but experts say it is highly unlikely IS and AQAP, rivals in the Middle East, would plan an attack together.

Security concerns

Outside France, the Washington Post, Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine, Corriere della Sera in Italy and the UK’s Guardian are among publications to show the cartoon.

The BBC has published the image in a previous story and in a statement said: “We have made the editorial judgment that the images are central to reporting the story.”

Catherine Boniface, Paris: “This issue is symbolic, it represents their persistence, they didn’t yield in the face of terror.”

Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet has published a section of the magazine, including a small image of the cover, but scaled down plans to publish the full edition due to security concerns.

Very few outlets in the Middle East and North Africa have shown the image.

Comedian arrested

Several hundred people attended the funeral on Wednesday of Michel Renaud, who was killed while visiting Charlie Hebdo’s offices, French media report.

Ceremonies were held for seven other victims of the attacks in France and Israel the day before.

Controversial French comedian Dieudonne M’bala M’bala was arrested on Wednesday for “defending terrorism”.

Police opened an investigation on Monday after the comic wrote on Facebook “I feel like Charlie Coulibaly” – merging Charlie Hebdo with the name of gunman Amedy Coulibaly.

Police are also investigating 50 people suspected of “condoning terrorism” and 25 cases of people attacking or defacing Muslim places of worship, AFP news agency reports.

A drunk driver who praised the actions of the Kouachi brothers after being arrested on Saturday in the northern town of Valenciennes has been jailed for a total of four years.

The prosecutor stressed the severity of the sentence handed down to the repeat offender, who had caused a traffic accident which left a man and a child lightly injured, was due to his “apology for terrorism”.

How the attacks unfolded (all times GMT)

• Wednesday 7 January 10:30 – Two masked gunmen enter Charlie Hebdo offices, killing 11 people, including the magazine’s editor. Shortly after the attack, the gunmen kill a police officer nearby.
• 11:00 – Police lose track of the men after they abandon their getaway car and hijack another vehicle. They are later identified as brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi.
• Thursday 8 January 08:45 – A lone gunman shoots dead a policewoman and injures a man in the south of Paris. Gunman later identified as Amedy Coulibaly.
• 10:30 – The Kouachi brothers rob a service station near Villers-Cotterets, in the Aisne region, but disappear again.
• Friday 9 January 08:30 – Police exchange gunfire with the Kouachi brothers during a car chase on the National 2 highway northeast of Paris.
• 10:00 – Police surround the brothers at an industrial building in at Dammartin-en-Goele, 35km (22 miles) from Paris.
• 12:15 – Coulibaly reappears and takes several people hostage at a kosher supermarket in eastern Paris. Heavily armed police arrive and surround the store.
• 16:00 – Kouachi brothers come out of the warehouse, firing at police. They are both shot dead.
• 16:15 – Police storm the kosher supermarket in Paris, killing Coulibaly and rescuing 15 hostages. The bodies of four hostages are recovered.

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Source: BBC