Charlie Hebdo Shooting: Mockery Of Muhammad And Islam In Satire Comic To Blame For Attack [PHOTOS]

The central Paris office of French satirical publication Charlie Hebdo was gruesomely attacked by terrorists on Wednesday. At least 12 were killed and eight more were injured in the shooting, including Editor in Chief Charlie Hebdo and four of his cartoonists-- Stephane "Charb" Charbonnier, Georges Wolinski, Jean Cabut, and Bernard Verlhac.

According to reports, there are three unknown hooded gunmen that orchestrated the Charlie Hebdo shooting. A video taken by a journalist for Premieres Lignes captured the gunmen shout "God is great!" as well as "We have avenged the Prophet!" during the attack. While there is no confirmation regarding the terrorist group responsible for Charlie Hebdo attack, the satirical paper has an extremely controversial history of publishing controversial comics that depict Prophet Muhammad and various Muslim references.

The shooting on Wednesday was not the first Charlie Hebdo attack by Muslim terrorists. In 2011, the paper was attacked by a petrol bomb after it published a special Arab Spring editioni magazine titled "Sharia Hebdo," which featured a caricature of Muhammad as the "guest editor." The cartoon read: "100 lashes if you don't die of laughter."

In 2012, Prophet Muhammad cartoons triggered reports of petential terrist attacks in the country. As a reaction to the threats, the French government decided to close its schools and embassies in more than 20 countries. Meanwhile, Stephane Charbonnier, who was the director of the paper at the time, defended that his staff was "not really fueling the fire," but only practicing their freedom of expression "to comment (on) the news in a satirical way."

Finally, be sure to take a look at some of the most controversial Prophet Muhammad cartoons published from Charlie Hebdo: