Hundreds of police officers have been deployed after armed men attacked a prison convoy in France – with a convict who is reportedly nicknamed “The Fly” having escaped during the raid.
Two male prison officers were killed and three other people were seriously injured after the reported “ramming car attack” on a motorway in Incarville in the northwestern France region of Eure.
Eric Dupond-Moretti, France’s minister of justice, has said one of the prisoner officers who was killed leaves behind a partner who was five months pregnant, while the other leaves a wife and two children.
Footage from the scene shows two hooded men with guns patrolling the area near a tollbooth on the A154 motorway.
Video also shows what appears to be the aftermath of a collision between a van linked to the prison convoy and a black vehicle.
The prisoner was able to escape after several men used two vehicles to target the convoy at around 11am local time, a police source has told the French news agency AFP.
The escaped detainee is a man named Mohamed who was convicted of “burglary theft” and is nicknamed “The Fly”, according to Le Parisien.
He fled with those who attacked the convoy, the French newspaper adds.
The convict had appeared before a judge in Rouen this morning accused of attempted homicide, BFM TV reports.
The attack on the prison van took place while he was being transported back to prison in Evreux, the French broadcaster adds.
A prison source has told Le Parisien that the escaped inmate had tried to saw the bars off his cell two days ago.
He had reportedly been placed in solitary confinement and his surveillance level had been raised after the escape attempt.
Gerald Darmanin, France’s interior minister, has said “several hundred police officers” have been deployed to “find these criminals” following the attack on the convoy today.
One of the vehicles used on the attack was found burned-out in a location which was not specified by the police source who spoke to AFP.
French President Emmanuel Macron has said the attack is a “shock to us all”.
Writing on the X social media platform, he added: “This morning’s attack, which cost the lives of prison officers, is a shock to us all.
“The Nation stands alongside the families, the injured and their colleagues.
“Everything is being done to find the perpetrators of this crime so that justice can be done in the name of the French people. We will be intractable.”
French justice minister Eric Dupond-Moretti posted on X: “A prison convoy was attacked in Eure. Two of our prison officers have died, three are seriously injured.
“All my thoughts are with the victims, their families and their colleagues.”