France on Tuesday marked 10 years since an Islamist attack on the Charlie Hebdo satirical newspaper that shocked the country and led to fierce debate about freedom of expression and religion.

President Emmanuel Macron and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo led commemorations by laying wreaths at the site of the weekly's former offices, which were stormed by two masked Al-Qaeda-linked gunmen with AK-47 assault rifles.

Macron and Hidalgo also paid tribute to Ahmed Merabet, a Muslim police officer who was executed at point-blank range near the building in the Bastille area of the capital in one of the most shocking images recorded of the tragedy.

Twelve people died in the attacks, including eight editorial staff, while a separate but linked hostage-taking at a Jewish supermarket in eastern Paris by a third gunman on January 9, 2015, claimed another four lives.

The bloodshed signalled the start of a dark period for France during which extremists inspired by Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group repeatedly mounted attacks that set the country on edge and raised religious tensions.

"Today is not necessarily sad," Frederica Wolinksi,........

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