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Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo has published its first issue since an attack on its office last week, featuring what they say is a depiction of Prophet Muhammad.

The newspaper unapologetically skewered other religions as well in its latest publication released on Wednesday, and bragged that Sunday's turnout of a million people at a march in Paris to condemn terrorism was larger "than for mass''.

All 700,000 issues of the magazine distributed across France on Wednesday morning sold out just hours after it hit newsstands. At least five million copies of the magazine will be made available throughout the week.

"For the past week, Charlie, an atheist newspaper, has achieved more miracles than all the saints and prophets combined," it said in the edition's lead editorial. "The one we are most proud of is that you have in your hands the newspaper that we always made."

The latest cover shows a weeping man wearing a turban, holding a sign reading "I am Charlie" with the words "All is forgiven'' written above him.

Renald Luzier, the cartoonist who drew the cover image under the pen name "Lu,," said it represents "just a little guy who's crying". He added, unapologetically: "Yes, it is Muhammad.''

Many Muslims believe any pictorial representation of the prophet is blasphemous.

Working out of borrowed offices, surviving staff published an unprecedented print run of three million copies, which is more than 50 times the usual circulation.

The issue will also appear in 16 languages, including Arabic, and will be sold in 25 countries. So far, the magazine has never had a significant readership, with many French people thinking the cartoons were in bad taste.

Al Jazeera's Jacky Rowland, reporting from Paris, said that people queued outside newspaper stalls. "In many cases it sold out before the store even opened because it was reserved by buyers."

Pierre Fatemi, a newspaper vendor, told Al Jazeera: "I used to receive five copies here and I would only sell one. After these events, I should be getting 40 copies tomorrow. But 60 people have already paid in advance, so I'll be getting more copies over the next few days."

Islamophobic attacks

Last Wednesday, two masked gunmen stormed the magazine's headquarter in Paris killing 12 people, including much of the weekly's editorial staff and two police officers.

The incident was followed by three days of dramatic events in which an additional five people died and ended with the deaths of the three attackers.

The Associated Press news agency reported that an official who keeps track of Islamophobic attacks in France said there were 60 incidents - attacks and threats - in the six days following the attack.

Abdallah Zekri, head of the National Observatory Against Islamophobia, said that since last Wednesday's massacre at Charlie Hebdo, 26 places of worship around France were attacked by firebombs, gunshots or pig heads, with
a mosque in Le Mans hit with four grenades.

Controversial French comedian Dieudonne was reportedly taken into poice custody for posting "I feel like Charlie Coulibaly" on Facebook, in a reference to Charlie Hebdo and Amedy Coulibaly, who was behind the attack on a kosher supermarket in Paris.

French authorities warned the nation against linking French Muslims with terrorists. "The terrorists' religion is not Islam, which they are betraying," Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said last week. "It's barbarity."

One of Egypt's top Islamic authorities had warned Charlie Hebdo against publishing more cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, before the latest edition was released.

Dar al-Ifta, which is in charge of issuing religious edicts, called the planned cover an "unjustified provocation" for millions of Muslims who respect and love their prophet and warned the cartoon would likely spark a new wave of hatred.

Criticism and threats immediately appeared on websites which frequently post communication by fighters, with calls for more attacks against the newspaper, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, a US-based monitor.

*Agencies