Two prison officers have been killed and three others injured after their convoy was attacked in France. Two of those injured are in a critical condition.
The prisoner they were transporting, Mohamed Amra, is now on the run.
The French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said that “all means are being used to find these criminals”.
The “Epervier” (Sparrowhawk) plan was triggered in response to the incident, he said, with several hundred police officers mobilised.
The van was taking Amra – nicknamed La Mouche (The Fly), according to local media – to Evreux prison, when it was ambushed on a motorway in Eure, Normandy.
He had been attending a court hearing in Rouen.
Authorities in France are working to secure the area and apprehend the assailants.
The assault took place on the A154 motorway, which has since been closed.
Amra was under high surveillance and had recently been sentenced for burglary. He was also under investigation for a kidnapping and homicide case in Marseille, according to public prosecutor Laure Beccuau.
He fled the van alongside the attackers, according to French news outlet Le Parisien.
Ms Beccuau announced an investigation into the attack, which is now considered a case of organised crime and murder.
“At this stage, we mourn the death of two penitentiary agents in this armed attack, and two are in a critical condition,” she said in a statement.
French President Emmanuel Macron said the attack had come as “a shock to us all” and that “everything is being done” to find the perpetrators.
“All my thoughts are with the victims, their families and their colleagues,” French Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti added on X.
A minute’s silence was held in the French parliament this afternoon. Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said the country “will never cower to violence” and will “remain united”.
This is a breaking story, more to come…
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