It was the sort of attack the French government has dreaded for months. Only in December Manuel Vails, the prime minister, declared that France had "never faced a greater terrorist threat". On January 7th armed gunmen burst into the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo, a newspaper known for its defiant publication of satirical cartoons, and shot dead ten staff inside. Two police officers were also killed. President Francois Hollande, who arrived swiftly at the scene, was in no doubt: it was "a terrorist attack" of "extreme barbarity". It was the worst act of terrorism to be perpetrated on French soil for over 50 years.
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