At least four people are stabbed near the former offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris

At least four people have been stabbed close to the former headquarters of Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris.

Police initially feared two men had carried out the attack but now they believe it is only one, who has now been arrested. 

He was spotted with blood on his clothes near the Opera Bastille.

Two of the victims are in ‘an extremely bad way’, said an investigating source, following the attacks on Friday afternoon. 

He said two people were initially seen running away and a suspect device was also found.  

It is unclear what motivated the attack or whether it had any link to Charlie Hebdo, which moved offices after they were attacked by Islamic extremists in 2015.

At least four people have been stabbed close to the former headquarters of Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris

Two of the victims are in ‘an extremely bad way’, said an investigating source, following the attacks on Friday afternoon

Police said there was ‘extreme concern’ today that those responsible for the stabbings might strike again. 

Local schools in the 3rd, 4th and 11th arrondissements have been shut down, and people are being advised to stay in their offices and homes.

Charlie Hebdo now publishes from a secret address in Paris, and many staff members have bodyguards.

It comes as a trial takes place in the French capital concerned with the January 2015 attacks that shocked the world after 12 people died.

Their primary targets were staff at the satirical magazine which had published a series of cartoons mocking the Prophet Mohammed.

The principal terrorists – who were all known to the French security services – were all gunned down by police themselves, but 14 defendants are currently on trial facing life in prison for ‘complicity in terrorism’.

Witnesses saw two attackers who are now on the run and police are hunting for them

Friday’s attack took place close to the old Charlie Hebdo offices, which were attacked by Paris-born brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi in 2015. 

It marked the opening of the criminal trial by re-publishing cartoons mocking the Prophet Mohammed.

Critics said the publication had deliberately used blasphemy to stir up hatred against Muslims around the world.

The deeply incendiary images originally led to riots across the Muslim world when they were first published in the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten on September 30, 2005.

Charlie Hebdo then published them in full in 2006, leading its writers and cartoonists to receive regular death threats.

Police said there was ‘extreme concern’ today that those responsible for the stabbings might strike again

This led up to the atrocities of 2015, when the Kouachis stormed into their offices and opened fire.

Despite this, the latest Charlie Hebdo carries the cartoons on its front page, under the headline ‘All that for that’.

The landmark trial has seen defendants facing a variety of charges including obtaining weapons and providing logistical support to the killers.

Three of the accused are being tried in absentia, as it is believed they went to fight for Islamic State in Syria.

The Kouachi brothers died during a shootout with police at a printing office northwest of Paris two days after the Charlie Hebdo attack.

On 8 January 2015, Amédy Coulibaly shot dead a police officer, Clarissa Jean-Philippe, in the Paris suburb of Montrouge.

The next day day, he took hostages at the Hyper Cacher kosher supermarket in Vincennes, executing store employee Yohan Cohen and customers Philippe Braham, François-Michel Saada and Yoav Hattab before being killed in a police raid.