THE OFFICES OF a French satirical magazine which published a special issue featuring a guest editor listed as “the Prophet Muhammad” has been petrol bombed overnight.

No injuries have been reported, according to Le Monde.

Parisian police said that a witness reported seeing two firebombs being thrown at the building, which suffered serious damage in the early morning fire.

A special issue of the weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo being published today was dedicated to the Arab Spring uprisings and its cover carried a cartoon depiction of the Prophet Muhammad.

Any depiction of Muhammad is strictly prohibited under Islam. Six years ago, Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten and some of its cartoonists were threatened after it published several cartoons featuring the prophet. The cartoons also sparked violent protests in which dozens of people died.

Kurt Westergaard, cartoonist for Jyllands-Posten, was later attacked in his home by a man bearing an axe and claiming to seek revenge over the illustrations. He managed to hide in a panic room in his house and contacted the police.

In 2007, legal action was launched against Charlie Hebdo for republishing some of those controversial cartoons, but the lawsuit was dismissed.

The magazine’s website was hacked last night and is currently unavailable.

- Additional reporting by the AP