France, Israel mourn; Man linked to Paris attacker held

French police officers carry the coffins of the three officers killed during last week's attacks by Islamist militants, during a national tribute at Paris Prefecture in Paris, January 13, 2015. The three police officers were killed in the terror attacks at the offices of satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo and in the streets of Montrouge, outside the French capital. [Photo/Agencies]

PARIS - With a printing press, medals of honor and ceremonies thousands of miles apart, France and Israel paid tribute Tuesday to those killed in the Paris terrorist attacks. In Bulgaria, authorities said a Frenchman already under arrest had ties to the Paris gunmen who left 17 victims in their wake.

Defying the bloodshed and terror of last week, a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad is to appear Wednesday on the cover of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, weeping and holding a placard with the words "I am Charlie." Above him is emblazoned: "All is forgiven" - a phrase one writer said meant to show that the survivors of the attacks forgave the gunmen.

"I think that those who have been killed, if they were here, they would have been able to have a coffee today with the terrorists and just talk to them, ask them why they have done this," columnist Zineb El Rhazoui told the BBC. "We feel, as Charlie Hebdo's team, that we need to forgive the two terrorists who have killed our colleagues."

Two masked gunmen opened the onslaught in Paris with a Jan. 7 attack on the paper, singling out its editor and his police bodyguard for the first shots before killing 12 people in all. Ahmed Merabet, a French Muslim policeman, was one of the victims, killed as he lay wounded on the ground as the gunmen - brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi - made their escape.

Charlie Hebdo, which lampoons religion indiscriminately, had received threats after depicting Muhammed before, and its offices were firebombed in 2011. Its editor, Stephane Charbonnier, was under constant guard. Its surviving staff say they have been working feverishly since the attacks in loaned office space to put out the latest issue.

France's main Muslim organization called Tuesday for calm, fearing that a new Muhammad cartoon could inflame passions anew.