With Prophet cover, Charlie Hebdo’s new edition irks Muslim groups

Paris, Jan. 14 (NsNewsWire) — French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo returns to newsstands with a record run on Wednesday, but its first edition since Islamist gunmen massacred its staff has already drawn ire from Muslim groups.

The front cover shows a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed holding a sign that says “Je suis Charlie” (“I am Charlie”), the slogan taken up by millions of supporters around the world after 12 people were gunned down in an attack on the magazine’s Paris offices, reports BBC.

France, home to Europe’s largest Jewish and Muslim communities, was shaken to the core last week when jihadists took to Paris’s streets in an Islamist killing spree that left 17 people dead in the country’s bloodiest week in decades.

Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Tuesday declared a “war against terrorism” and a packed parliament sang a stirring rendition of the national “Marseillaise” anthem, a first since the end of World War I.