French newspaper firebombed for naming Prophet Mohammed guest editor

The offices of a satirical French newspaper were destroyed by a firebomb on Wednesday, a day after naming the Prophet Mohammed as the guest editor of this week's issue.

"We no longer have a newspaper," the editor-in-chief of Charlie Hebdo, the publication, told a French radio station. "All our equipment has been destroyed or has melted."

According to police reports cited by the press, a Molotov cocktail was tossed into the paper's Paris offices at about 1 a.m. local time. No injuries were reported.

Charlie Hebdo's website was also hacked. "You keep abusing Islam's almighty Prophet with disgusting and disgraceful cartoons using excuses of freedom of speech," a message from the apparent hacker read. "Be God's curse upon you!"

"Freedom of expression is an inalienable right in our democracy and all attacks on the freedom of the press must be condemned with the greatest firmness," France's prime minister François Fillon said in a statement. "No cause can justify such an act of violence."

In 2005, a Danish newspaper published a series of cartoon drawings of the Prophet Mohammed, sparking violent protests and threats from Muslims throughout Europe and the Middle East. Al Qaeda claimed credit for a 2008 bombing of the Danish embassy in Pakistan, citing the cartoons as the reason for the attack. (Charlie Hebdo republished the cartoons, which first appeared in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten.)

Last year, a radical Muslim group threatened violent retribution against the creators of "South Park" for their depiction of the Prophet Mohammed in a bear suit. Comedy Central subsequently censored the show when it aired, prompting criticism from the show's creators.

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