Thursday 08 January 2015 9:10 am

Charlie Hebdo shooting: Suspects “rob service station” in the north of France

Police are searching woodland in the North of France in a manhunt for two gunmen involved in yesterday's shooting at satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

The two men wanted in connection with the attack are suspected of robbing a service station near Villers-Cotterets to the north-east of Paris.

Two men are said to have stolen food and petrol while firing shots, according to widespread reports. They fitted the description of the two suspects wanted in connection with the shooting, named as brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi.

Yesterday's attack left 12 dead, including two police officers and nine employees of Charlie Hebdo, including the publishing editor Sebastianne Charbonnier, known as Charb, and a guest of the magazine who was in the building at the time.

A third suspect,18-year-old Hamyd Mourad, has reportedly handed himself after seeing his name connected to the attack on social media.

The BBC reports that the two men matching the description of the fugitives were armed with Kalashnikovs and rocket-propelled grenade launchers and robbed the service station at around 10:30am local time (9:30am GMT).

Police are searching the area, including dense woodland and the village of Crepy-en-Valois 10 miles from the service station.

The suspects are said to have driven in the direction of Paris in a Renault Clio. According to French commercial channel BFMTV, police are monitoring all of the main entry roads into the capital.

The UK's home secretary Theresa May confirmed today that border controls had been tightened following the attack.

A second, seemingly separate, attack took place in Paris during the early hours of this morning in which a female police officer was killed and a street sweeper has been injured.

#JeSuisCharlie

The magazine was firebombed in 2011 after publishing a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad. However, the staff continued to publish their magazine with editor Stephane Charbonnier, 47, known as 'Charb' telling an interviewer "I would rather die standing up than live on my knees".

Last night, thousands of Londoners took part in a vigil in Trafalgar Square to show their solidarity with the people of France and to show their support for free speech. Parisians took to the Place de la Republique to show their defiance and similar displays of solidarity were seen in Amsterdam, Buenos Aires and many others.

David Cameron, speaking at the British Museum, said:

What has happened in Paris is an appalling terrorist outrage. We must never allow the values that we hold dear, of democracy, of freedom of speech to be damaged by these terrorists.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was on a visit to Britain, added:

All of us who live in Europe strongly condemn these attacks… This is an attack against the values we all hold dear, values by which we stand, values of freedom of the press, freedom in general and the dignity of man