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Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - At least 11 people were killed in a shooting at the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo, a satirical newspaper firebombed in the past after publishing cartoons in 2011 joking about Muslim leaders, an official has said.

Xavier Castaing, head of communications for the Paris police prefecture, confirmed the deaths, according to the Associated Press.

French President Francois Hollande was headed to the scene of Wednesday's shooting at Charlie Hebdo, a satirical weekly that as drawn

French TV channel iTELE reported quoted a witness as saying he saw the incident from a building nearby in the heart of the French capital.

"About a half an hour ago two black-hooded men entered the building with Kalashnikovs (guns)," Benoit Bringer told the station. "A few minutes later we heard lots of shots," he said, adding that the men were then seen fleeing the building.

The French weekly came under fire in 2013 for publishing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed to the ire of conservative Muslims. The satirical newspaper has on several occasions depicted Islam’s prophet in an effort to defend free speech and defy the anger of Muslims who believe depicting Mohammed is sacrilegious.

In 2011, Charlie Hebdo’s offices were hit by a firebomb and its website pirated after publishing an edition titled “Charia Hebdo” featuring several cartoons on Prophet Mohammad.

In 2006, when a newspaper in Denmark published cartoons of the Prophet, Charlie Hebdo republished the cartoon, drawing angry protests across the Muslim world.

*Al Arabiya