REPORT: Paris shooting attack triggers worldwide condemnation

US President Barack Obama condemned the deadly shooting at a magazine office in Paris, calling it a terrorist attack against its ally, France.

Obama offered US assistance after the attack that killed at least 12 people at the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, including two police officers. The gunmen have not been apprehended.

"We are in touch with French officials and I have directed my administration to provide any assistance needed to help bring these terrorists to justice," Obama said in a statement.

"France is America's oldest ally, and has stood shoulder to shoulder with the United States in the fight against terrorists who threaten our shared security and the world," Obama said.

"Time and again, the French people have stood up for the universal values that generations of our people have defended. France, and the great city of Paris where this outrageous attack took place, offer the world a timeless example that will endure well beyond the hateful vision of these killers," he said.

The Department of Homeland Security is closely monitoring the events in Paris and is in contact with security officials there, a DHS official said on Wednesday. The official said the department continually evaluates the level of protection at federal facilities but did not say that has been changed.

In turn, the Vatican condemned as "abominable" the shooting that killed at least 12 people in the Paris offices of a weekly satirical magazine known for lampooning radical Islam.

"It is a double act of violence, abominable because it is both an attack against people as well as against freedom of the press," said the Vatican's deputy spokesman, Father Ciro Benedettini.

He added that Pope Francis would likely issue a personal condemnation later on Wednesday by sending a message to the archbishop of Paris. 

The UN secretary-general is condemning the deadly attack on a French satirical newspaper as "a horrendous, unjustifiable and cold-blooded crime."

Ban Ki-moon spoke to the media hours after masked gunmen stormed the newspaper's Paris offices and killed 12 people, including the editor.

Ban called it "a very terrible terrorist attack" and expressed his outrage. He called it an "assault on a cornerstone of democracy."   

He said: "This horrific attack was meant to divide. We must not fall into that trap. This is a moment of solidarity around the world."

For his part, British Prime Minister David Cameron described the attack as sickening.

Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, condemned the attack on a French satirical magazine known for its send-ups of radical Islam.

"...The kingdom therefore strongly condemns and denounces this cowardly terrorist act that is rejected by true Islamic religion as well as the rest of the religions and beliefs," the Saudi state news agency SPA said, citing an official source.

Egypt's leading Islamic authority, Al-Azhar, also condemned the attack, which killed at least 12 people including two police officers, the worst militant attack on French soil for decades.