(Bloomberg) -- France was put on the highest terrorist alertafter one of the country’s deadliest attacks since World War IIkilled at least 12 people in shootings at the office of satiricalweekly Charlie Hebdo in eastern Paris.

Two people dressed in black and carrying firearms, includingAK-47 Kalashnikov rifles, entered the offices of the magazine onrue Nicolas Appert, shooting at random. At least one shouted“Allahu Akbar,” or “God is great” in Arabic. The magazine’s mostrenowned cartoonists -- Cabu, Charb, Tignous and Wolinski -- wereamong the dead, the Paris prosecutor’s office said. Eight peoplewere injured. Four of them are in critical condition. The shootersremain at large.

“France is in a state of shock after this terrorist attack,”French President Francois Hollande told reporters. “An act ofexceptional barbarity has been perpetrated against a newspaper,against liberty of expression, against journalists.”

The three assailants, including a driver, fled from CharlieHebdo in a Citroen C3, headed toward Porte de Pantin on thenorthern edge of Paris, where police lost track of them, accordingto Emmanuel Quemener from the police union Alliance.

An injured person is transportedto an ambulance after the shooting. (AP Photo/ThibaultCamus)

Hollande said all potential terrorist targets across France havebeen put under the highest protection, adding that several possibleincidents had been foiled in recent weeks. He will address thenation tonight. Rallies to show support for Charlie Hebdo areplanned in cities across France today.

‘Madness’

France’s last major terrorist violence came in 1995, whenbombings struck public places between July and October, includingthe Saint Michel metro station in the heart of Paris. Bombs alsoexploded in the Place de l’Etoile. In all, eight were killed andabout 200 were injured. The bombings were blamed on an Algerianrebel group.

“We can’t accept this madness,” said Dalil Boubakeur, rector ofthe Mosque of Paris. “We want to live in peace.”

The attacks drew condemnation from across the world. U.S.President Barack Obama offered French authorities assistance toinvestigate the shooting. Prime Minister David Cameron called theattacks “barbaric,” saying the U.K. stands united with the Frenchpeople in its opposition to all forms of terrorism.’’

Most of today’s victims were part of the magazine’s newsroom,said Matthieu Lamarre, a spokesman for the Paris mayor’s office.One of the dead is a police officer, he said.

Charlie Hebdo

In this 2012 photo, Stephane"Charb" Charbonnier, the publishing director of the satyricweekly Charlie Hebdo, displays the front page of thepublication. Charb is among the 12 dead in today's shooting. (APPhoto/Michel Euler)

Charlie Hebdo’s cover this week is on “Submission,” abook by Michel Houellebecq released today, which is sparkingcontroversy with its depiction of a fictional France of the futureled by an Islamic party and a Muslim president who bans women fromthe workplace.

Also today, the magazine on its Twitter account posted acartoon depicting Islamic State Chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Charlie Hebdo’s offices were firebombed in November2011 after it published a special edition featuring the ProphetMohammed as a “guest editor.” The fire caused no injuries.

Charlie Hebdo is located in the 11th arrondissement ofParis, a former working-class neighborhood that is becomingincreasingly fashionable. The glass-and-concrete four-story modernbuilding is on a quiet street off leafy, broad Richard Lenoirboulevard, leading to the Bastille square. The newspaper is ownedby Les Editions Rotatives, a holding controlled by some of itsreporters, and managers.

Houellebecq’s Book

In his sixth novel, Houellebecq plays on fears that westernsocieties are being inundated by the influence of Islam, a worrythat this month drew thousands in anti-Islamist protests inGermany. In the novel, Houellebecq has the imaginary “MuslimFraternity” party winning a presidential election in France againstthe nationalist, anti-immigration National Front.

Houellebecq’s book is set in France in 2022. It has thefictional Muslim Fraternity’s chief, Mohammed Ben Abbes, beatingNational Front Leader Marine Le Pen, with Socialists, centrists,and Nicolas Sarkozy’s UMP party rallying behind him to block theNational Front.

Ben Abbes goes on to ban women in the workplace, advocatespolygamy, pushes Islamic schools on the masses and imposes aconservative and religious vision of society. The French widelyaccept the new environment, hence the book’s title.

France is home to Europe’s largest Muslim population, with morethan 5 million people of the faith out of a population of about 65million, a number that’s been growing with children andgrandchildren of 20th-century immigrants. Very few Muslims havereached top-level jobs in France, and second-and- third- generationFrench people of Arab descent say they often facediscrimination.

French Troops

The fear of Islamization has traction in France with opinionpolls showing the anti-immigration Le Pen would lead in the firstround of the 2017 presidential race. The party topped the Socialistparty and UMP in last year’s European elections. It may score wellagain in this year’s local ballots.

The attack comes against the backdrop of French military actionsin Africa and the Middle East to combat Islamic groups.

The French army currently has two overseas operations, withabout 3,800 troops. Its forces began fighting in the Sahel regionof Africa -- spanning Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Burkina Fasso andNiger -- in 2013. France also joined the U.S. in fighting theIslamic State in Syria and Iraq.

About 800 soldiers are stationed in the Middle East for theoperation and France is bombing the group in Iraq.

--With assistance from Angeline Benoit, Marie Mawad, GregoryViscusi and Fabio Benedetti-Valentini in Paris.

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