An anti-terror raid has been launched in north-eastern France after 12 people were killed during a gun attack on a newspaper office in Paris, Sky News reported Wednesday night.

The AFP news agency reported that France’s elite anti-terrorist unit had begun the raid in Reims.

Earlier, two brothers and a third man were identified as suspects behind the attack on the Charlie Hebdo headquarters in Paris.

The men have been named as French nationals Said Kouachi and Cherif Kouachi, in their early 30s, along with 18-year-old Hamyd Mourad.

Police officials have said the suspects are linked to a Yemeni terror network.

Cherif Kouachi was reportedly convicted in 2008 of terrorism charges for helping channel fighters to Iraq’s insurgency. He was jailed for 18 months.

Three masked gunmen stormed the offices of Charlie Hebdo, which has previously been targeted over its portrayal of the Prophet Mohammed.

They were armed with Kalashnikov rifles and a rocket-propelled grenade during the attack on Wednesday morning.

A major manhunt was launched after the men fled the scene in a black Citroen, which was later found abandoned in north-eastern Paris.

They then hijacked a white Renault Clio and drove off in the direction of the Porte de Pantin, one of the main routes out of the French capital, according to Sky News.

The editor and a cartoonist for the newspaper, who went by the pen names Charb and Cabu, were among those killed in the attack.