Charlie Hebdo attackers killed to avenge Prophet Mohammad, French court hears

A policeman wearing a protective face mask stands near the courthouse for the opening of the trial of the January 2015 Paris attacks against Charlie Hebdo satirical weekly, a policewoman in Montrouge and the Hyper Cacher kosher supermarket, in Paris, France, Steptember 2, 2020. The trial will take place from September 2 to November 10. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann

PARIS (Reuters) - The Islamist gunmen who attacked the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo five years ago, killing 12 people, sought to avenge the Prophet Mohammad, a French court heard on Wednesday on the first day of the trial of more than a dozen alleged accomplices.

Homegrown militants Said and Cherif Kouachi stormed Charlie Hebdo's offices in Paris, spraying gunfire, on Jan. 7, 2015, nearly a decade after the weekly published cartoons mocking the Prophet.