Twelve people are killed in the deadliest attack in Paris in decades – French cops identify the alleged attackers, and CareerSpot World News will tell you about their upbringings and terrorist pasts – Here’s today’s hashtag for all those concerned about freedom of speech in the face of violence: #JeSuisCharlie – There are your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

There is confusion over the status of the three suspects in the attack on a satire magazine in Paris:  An American report quoted a senior defense official saying that French police got into a gunfight with the suspects, killing one and arresting the other two.  But later on, French officials still hadn’t confirmed that yet.  And then, reports surfaced that the youngest of the suspects turned himself in.  Several reports including France BFM network told of a major police operation in Reims, a town about 140 kilometers east-northeast of Paris. 

Earlier on Wednesday, three men dressed in black outfits and balaclavas invaded the offices of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, firing AK-47 assault weapons and shouting “Allahu Akbar” (“God is great” in Arabic).  They rounded up the staff and killed twelve people, including eight journalists, the magazine’s editor, and the police officer – a French muslim – assigned to protect him.  Survivors said the gunmen called out their victims by name, indicating they knew exactly whom they were going to kill – some of France’s most prominent political cartoonists, including Jean Cabut (a graphic artist known by his pen name Cabu), Stephane Charbonnier (known as Charb), and Georges Wolinski.

Outside, the suspects were caught on video in one of their cowardly acts:  As a wounded police officer lay on the ground saying, “No, no,” one of the attackers runs up and delivers the coup d’grace with his Kaslashnikov rifle (Warning, this is graphic video).  They declared, “We have avenged Prophet Muhammad.  We have killed Charlie Hebdo,” apparently a reference to Charlie Hebdo’s satirical treatment of Islam’s founder.

The three suspects are identified as:  Said Kouachi and Cherif Kouachi, brothers from France in their early thirties; and 18-year old Hamyd Mourad of unknown national origin.

So who are these dirtbags?  One report says that the brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi were born in the 10th arrondissement in Paris, which lines up with reports that the suspects spoke perfect French without a foreign accent.  They were reportedly abandoned by their Algerian parents at a young age, and the brothers grew up in Rennes in western France, only to return to Paris as adults.  Said and Cherif are 34 and 32, respectively.  Said is believed to have blundered and left his passport in the getaway car, putting investigators on their trail.

Cherif is a convicted terrorist:  In 2008, he was convicted of helping to recruit terrorists in France to go to Iraq, and was sentenced to three years in prison.  He served 18 months.  In 2005, the New York Times reported on Cherif, noting that he turned to terrorism in response to the abuse suffered by inmate of Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq at the hands of US military guards.

The third “man” is 18-year old Hamyd Mourad, who reportedly just graduated from High School.  Little jerk. 

French President Francois Hollande has declared Thursday a day of mourning, and ordered flags flown at half-staff.