By Hajer M'tiri

PARIS

A new hashtag has emerged on Twitter in support of gunmen who carried out deadly attacks in France that killed 17 people.

#JeSuisKouachi, or "I am Kouachi" is named after two brothers, Said Kouachi, 34, and Cherif Kouachi, 32, who carried out Wednesday’s attack on French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo that left 12 people dead, including leading French cartoonists and police officers.

According to trends determined at the Hashtags.org, the #JeSuisKouachi tag appeared to become hugely popular in the last 24 hours, especially Friday after three gunmen were killed at the end of two hostage situations in France. According to statistics determined by the social media analytics site, the tag was shared at one point by more than 5,000 people per hour.

"All support to our brothers Kouachi, Bon courage and Allah protects you against the disbelievers," a Twitter user using the handle Khaireddine tweeted using the hashtag, which many people online found offensive.

The hashtag is now also being used to express outrage against supporters of the attackers among Internet users around the world.

Djemila Benhabib, a Muslim Canadian journalist, was one of the first to ask Twitter to block the hashtag.

"What's Twitter waiting for to block: #JeSuisKouachi? Freedom of Expression is not to defend crime," she tweeted.

Earlier, two hashtags #JeSuisCharlie or "I am Charlie" and #JeSuisAhmed or "I am Ahmed" became hugely popular in the immediate aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo attack. Millions of people used the tags on Twitter and other social media networks to express solidarity with the victims and their disgust at the attack.

#JeSuisAhmed emerged in support of French Muslim police officer Ahmed Merabet, who was brutally shot dead by the Kouachi brothers as he came to the defense of Charlie Hebdo in the Wednesday attack. Videos of his killing was shared by millions of people online, including Twitter.

Many people, including Muslims all around the world used the tag to honor Merabet, who left a wife and two children behind.

"#JeSuisAhmed, the policeman died defending a magazine's right to insult his religion and culture," tweeted Haroon.

Lebanese activist Dyab Abou Jahjah tweeted: "I am not Charlie, I am Ahmed the dead cop. Charlie ridiculed my faith and culture and I died defending his right to do so. #JeSuisAhmed."

The Huffington Post wrote that the hasghtag for the officer "reminds us that a French Muslim died to protect free speech."

 #JeSuisAhmed got thousands of mentions in the past 24 hours, according to Topsy, a social analytics website, while, #JeSuisCharlie was tweeted millions of times.

The three gunmen, including the two Kouachi brothers and Amedy Coulibaly, 32, were involved in the worst terror attacks France saw in decades, all of whom were killed Friday.

Among the dead were satirical journalists and cartoonists regarded as legendary across France - editor Stephanie "Charb" Charbonnier, Bernard "Tignou" Verlhac, Jean Cabu and George Wolinski.

Renowned economist and writer Bernard Maris was also killed. The journalists were attacked in the middle of an editorial meeting.

France remained on tenterhooks Saturday as authorities searched for suspects, including wives of three slain gunmen who murdered 17 people, including leading cartoonists, civilians and police officers in deadly attacks in and around Paris.

One of the main suspects is Hayat Boumediene, a woman said to be closely related to Amedy Coulibaly who had taken hostages at a supermarket in Paris.