PARIS (AFP) - An 18-year-old implicated alongside two brothers in the bloody attack against a satirical weekly in Paris has surrendered to the police, according to a source close to the case.

"Hamyd Mourad handed himself in to police... on Wednesday at 11pm after seeing his name circulating on social media," the source told AFP. "He has been arrested and taken into custody," another source confirmed.

Meantime, French police on Thursday published photos of the two brothers as they launched an appeal to the public for information.

Police said arrest warrants had been issued for Cherif Kouachi, 32 and his 34-year-old brother Said who were "likely armed and dangerous".

Media reports said the Kouachi brothers were from the Paris region while Mourad was from the north-eastern city of Reims. One of the brothers had previously been tried on terrorism charges, said a police source.

The hooded attackers stormed the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo, a weekly known for lampooning Islam and other religions, in the most deadly militant attack on French soil in decades.

Famous French cartoonists Cabu, Charb, Tignous and Wolinski were killed in the attack. Charb, or Mr Stephane Charbonnier, was the publishing editor of the magazine.