Europe News

French satirical magazine firebombed after threats received

Nov 2, 2011, 9:25 GMT

Paris - The editorial offices of a French satirical weekly were firebombed in the early hours of Wednesday, after the magazine had received mailed threats, the editor said.

The 2 am (0100 GMT) attack took place on the same day that the magazine, Charlie Hebdo, brought out a special issue on the victory of the Islamist party in Tunisia, saying that 'Mohammed' had edited it and changing the publication's name, provisionally, to Sharia Hebdo.

The magazine had received threatening mail, the editor told broadcaster BFM-TV, appearing under his pseudonym 'Charb.'

The editor said the unidentified attacker could not possibly have read the magazine before carrying out the attack and that only the front page could be viewed beforehand on the internet.

The magazine's website had gone down and there had been considerable damages to computers and other equipment from the heat of the fire and the water used to extinguish it, the editor said.

Initial investigations suggested the attackers had broken a window and then thrown a firebomb into the ground floor editorial offices. Police said they were investigating.