As night falls on the Place de Republique in Paris, the #jesuischarlie tributes continue.

Image source, AFP

BBC Special Correspondent Fergal Keane has filed a report from the banlieue, or suburb, where one of the Charlie Hebdo gunman lived.

He says that for many in France, the word banlieue is "often loaded with negative association".

"In the minds of some French, these estates can be breeding grounds for radicalism," he adds.

"France is outraged but not yet polarised between Muslims and the rest. That isn't to underestimate the potential for a much wider crisis.

"Muslim elders say the key to tackling the problem is breaking the power of radical Islam among the alienated young."

Al-Qaeda's branch in North Africa has praised the attack on the office of Charlie Hebdo, according to an organisation which monitors jihadi activity.

Site Intelligence Group said that al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) had also issued a reminder that Osama Bin Laden, al-Qaeda's founder, had threatened those who mocked the Prophet Muhammad

Samuel in Somerset emails: Everyone who is saying that perhaps we need to rethink our ideas on free speech should realise the people who share this view are people who shoot dead unarmed journalists. We do not get to pick and choose what constitutes free speech, it is a fundamental liberty opposed by despots and terrorists worldwide. If anything, the fate of Charlie Hebdo's staff should cause us to redouble our efforts in defending it, not cause us to reconsider its meaning.

Art major student Zhen in Boston, USA, sent this cartoon.

Image source, Zhen, no surname

The French Interior Ministry has confirmed nine people are now in custody in connection with the Charlie Hebdo shooting.

Mr Cazeneuve also told the press conference that security has been stepped up across Paris. He mentioned police mobilisations around the headquarters of some media outlets, places of worship and religious schools, stations, schools and diplomatic representations as well as tourist sites. Transport security has also been intensified, he added.

Image source, Getty Images

Bernard Cazeneuve, the French interior minister, has given more details on the manhunt:

"Interpol has been alerted. Some men were spotted in Villers Cotterets this morning [where the Kouachi brothers are thought to have been sighted earlier]. The national police have acted in various places so as to arrest some suspects.

More than 90 people came forward as witnesses, several of them repeated words that have been uttered by the criminals. The post mortems of the victims have been done, and surveillance on the roads are being examined as well.

An anti-terrorism plan is being put into place and powerful means are being put together at the disposal of the police. Also I have invited in Paris on Sunday my colleagues from other European countries that are concerned, including Greece and the United States. It is also an opportunity, they tell me, to show solidarity with France."

Image source, Roni Penny

Nevin Penny says her 21-year-old autistic son Roni drew this cartoon in support of staff at Charlie Hebdo.

Bernard Cazeneuve, French Interior Minister says: "We need to know how to retain this consensus. National unity is vital at such a time because the plans of the terrorists go beyond violence and seek to sow fear… we need to be calm and show that we are not afraid and that we will remain united in this trial, and so the government condemns violence and profanations which are being levelled against some mosques since yesterday evening - fortunately without any victims.

"We will not tolerate any act, any threat aimed against a place of worship or any hostile manifestation against French people because of their origin or their religion. The authors of such actions should know that they too will be arrested and punished."

Image source, Reuters

French counter-terrorism police have searched houses in a neighbourhood of Corcy, north-east of Paris, and to the east of Villers Cotterets, where the Kouachi brothers were reportedly sighted at a petrol station.

One witness has described the forest where Said Kouachi and Cherif Kouachi may have fled to as "bigger than Paris".

Benoit Verdun, a hotel worker, told Sky News: "There are lots of policemen. I can see a huge police car. They are asking people 'have you seen anybody?' They have big guns with them. The forest is bigger than Paris - it is very big and very wide. "

Eric Bade, the neighbour of Cherif Kouachi, one of the suspected attackers, says he had not behaved in a suspicious way before.

He tells the BBC that Cherif was "well-behaved, friendly, polite, clean-looking and above all, which is very important, he was willing to help old people and disabled people. Very willing to help... he wasn't aggressive. He wasn't a crazy zealot. He was a calm person."

Image source, REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol

Police have been closely guarding this petrol station near the town of Villers-Cotterets, 50 miles (80 km) from the French capital, since reports that the Charlie Hebdo suspects had carried out an armed robbery there.

Police sources have told the AFP news agency that two suspects are in custody in connection with the fatal shooting of a policewoman in Paris this morning. The suspects are reportedly a 52-year-old man and one other.

The US attorney general will attend terror talks in Paris on Sunday, according to an official quoted by the AFP news agency.

A man who passed through the village of Longpont says he was told the Charlie Hebdo suspects may be in the nearby forest.

"There was a man who told me that apparently they left their car and are in the forest. 'Don't go by the forest, take the road that runs parallel to the forest to avoid running into them.'."

Luci Bonner
BBC News, Paris Producer

Arab ambassadors in Paris have denounced the Charlie Hebdo attack as a "barbaric terrorist act" and assured that their countries were engaged in the fight against terrorism.

In a press statement they said "the member countries of the Arab League are engaged, alongside other members of the international community in the struggle against terrorism, intolerance and extremism".

Benoit Verdun, who owns a hotel in Longpont where a major operation has been launched, says police are everywhere: "They asked me to close the hotel and to stay inside, not to go in the street. They are searching all the houses on the main street. It's a very small main street and I think now they are at the end of the village where there is a small part with new houses."

Image source, EPA

BBC News looks at the role of Charlie Hebdo in French journalism.