A senior BBC executive has revealed the corporation avoids using the term "terrorist" to describe the Islamists who carried out the Charlie Hebdo massacre.

Tarik Kafala, head of the BBC Arabic Service, said the word was too "loaded" for reporters to use when describing the two men who killed 12 people in the attack on the French magazine in Paris.

But a BBC spokesperson rejected any suggestion that the corporation had told its journalists not to use the word.

She said: "There is no BBC ban on the word 'terrorist', as can be seen from our reporting of the terrorist attack in Paris, though we prefer a more precise description if possible."

● The BBC has said it will investigate news presenter Tim Willcox after his questioning of a Jewish woman in Paris following the terrorist attack on a kosher supermarket. A "very large number" of complaints had been received following his suggestion that "Palestinians suffer hugely at Jewish hands". A BBC spokesman said the comments would be investigated for accuracy, impartiality and offensiveness.