Charlie Hebdo magazine 'assassin still at large' cover for anniversary of Paris terror attack

The French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, the target of an al-Qaeda terror attack in Paris on 7 January 2014 which took 12 lives, has released a preview of its cover to mark the first anniversary. It reads: "One year on: The assassin still at large".

AFP reported one million copies of the edition will go on sale the day before the anniversary of the attacks. Eight of the publication's journalists were among the 12 murdered at the magazine's Paris offices when brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi stormed the building with assault rifles.

Over the course of a three-day manhunt for the pair and subsequent violence in the French capital which targeted a Jewish supermarket and police, 17 people lost their lives.

The publication, which had unflinchingly lampooned religion and Islam by depicting the Prophet Mohammed, became symbol for freedom of expression following the massacre. The actions of the Kouachi brothers were later claimed by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

The magazine's anniversary cover once again mocks religion but does not depict Mohammed as it did following the attacks. It shows God wearing blood stained robes with a Kalashnikov over his shoulder.

The Charlie Hebdo attacks marked the beginning of a year in which Paris was plagued by Islamist violence. 2015 ended with a series of coordinated attacks across the French capital in which 130 were killed in the worst acts of violence seen in the city since the Second World War.

This time the atrocities were claimed by the Islamic State (Isis) which said it had sent its fighters to Paris in retaliation for French military action in Iraq and Syria.

To commemorate the Charlie Hedo attacks, on the 7 January a tree of remembrance is to be planted in Paris, AP reported. On 29 December The Legion of Honour – France's highest civilian award – was given posthumously to the victims of the attack.