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Published on 25 January 2015

The facts: the most deadly terror attack on French soil

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Seventeen people, journalists, police officers and Jews, were killed in three days of violence by three terrorists. It began on Wednesday January the 7th 2015 with a shooting attack on the satirical magazine “Charlie Hebdo”, known for its publication of the cartoons of Prophet Muhammad. Two brothers, Cherif and Said Kouachi, perpetuated this attack.
On Thursday, a local police officer was killed in the city of Montrouge, in the southern suburb of Paris. It is supposed that the killer, Amedy Coulibaly, was on his way to target a Jewish school.
On Friday, Amedy Coulibaly took hostages in a Paris kosher supermarket in which four people were killed. A massive manhunt led to the discovery of the brothers Kouachi. They took hostages at a signage company in Dammartin.
Later that day, French police succeeded in killing the terrorists Coulibaly in Vincennes and the brothers Kouachi in Dammartin. As Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said, "The nation is relieved tonight."
Saturday night, after Shabbat, a large gathering took place in front of the kosher supermarket to honor the memory of the victims.
On Sunday, massive demonstrations occurred in the streets of France. Giant letters attached to a statue in a Paris square spelt out the word Pourquoi?" (Why?) and small groups sang the "La Marseillaise" national anthem.
All three gunmen, known as the Kouachi brothers and Amedy Coulibaly were in contact with Djamel Beghal, an Islamist militant who was in jail because of 2005 terrorist plot against the American embassy in Paris.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), Yemen’s al Qaeda branch, formally claimed responsibility a week later on Wednesday January the 14th 2015 for last week’s attack in Paris on the French satirical newspaper “Charlie Hebdo”.