Cartoonist Corinne Rey said the men got into the building after forcing her to enter the code to open the door.

Once in the building, the men - armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles - killed a policeman on guard and a member of staff. The attackers then moved to the second-floor office of Charlie Hebdo, where the weekly editorial meeting was taking place.

They opened fire, killing eight journalists and a guest attending the meeting.

Witnesses said they heard the gunmen shouting "We have avenged the Prophet Muhammad" and "God is Greatest" in Arabic ("Allahu Akbar").

Police, alerted about a shooting incident, arrived at the scene as the gunmen were leaving the building.

A police car blocked the gunmen's escape route down the narrow street and the gunmen opened fire.

Pictures of the car show the windscreen full of bullet holes.

A second police officer was reportedly shot dead by a gunman as he lay wounded on the pavement.

The attackers left in a black Citroen C3, with an accomplice. They later switched to another car that had been stolen.

The getaway car was found abandoned - after having crashed into another car a short time later in Rue de Meaux, about 3km north of the Charlie Hebdo offices.

The attackers hijacked another car, a grey Renault Clio.

Shortly before midday the police lost track of the gunmen. They said they were searching for three men in connection with the attack.

A major police operation got under way and an additional 500 police were deployed on the streets of Paris.

Later, one of the suspects, Mourad Hamyd, 18, turned himself in. Paris prosecutor's spokeswoman Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre said he surrendered to police after hearing his name on the news in connection with the attack.

Police then issued a bulletin saying arrest warrants had been issued for brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi and they should be considered armed and dangerous. Photos were also released of the two suspects.

Four of the magazine's well-known cartoonists, including its editor Stephane Charbonnier, were reported among those killed, as well as two police officers.

Mr Charbonnier, 47, had received death threats in the past and was living under police protection. He was regularly accompanied by two protection officers.

French media have named the three other cartoonists killed in the attack as Jean Cabut aka Cabu, Bernard Verlhac aka Tignous and Georges Wolinski. The economist and journalist Bernard Maris was also killed.

(BBC)