France prison van attack: Two officers killed and inmate on the run after ambush

At least two French prison officers were shot dead after a van carrying a notorious crime boss was ambushed by balaclava-clad “commandos” with assault rifles sparking a nationwide manhunt.

Three more were seriously injured in the attack at the Inarville toll on the A154 motorway in Val-de-Reuil in the Eure department, Normandy, at 9am.

Le Parisien named the fugitive inmate as 30-year-old Mohamed Amra, nicknamed “The Fly”, as hundreds of police officers were drafted in to hunt the crimelord and his fleeing accomplices.

A French police source said he was suspected of ordering a murder in Marseille, and had ties to the city’s powerful “Blacks” gang.

Footage from the scene shows a hooded attacker in all black firing an assault rifle at the prisoner convoy.

They can be seen circling near an SUV that was in flames. The SUV appeared to have been rammed into the front of the prison van.

One of the attackers was injured in retaliatory fire, a prison officer union boss said.

France’s justice minister Eric Dupond-Morett 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.”

A police source told AFP, the attack was carried out by a group of several criminals who used two vehicles.

One of these vehicles was found shortly after the events, “burned”, in a location not revealed by the source.

French President Emmanuel Macron posted on X, that the manhunt will be “intractable”.

He said: “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.”

The spokesperson for the CFTC Police union, Axel Ronde posted on X: “A real commando set an ambush against the convoy of prison administration staff in #Incarville.

“One of the perpetrators was injured by return fire. Fraternal support for all prison administration staff in the face of this killing!”

Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin said he had launched an “Epervier plan”, a nationwide manhunt, to find the criminals.

He posted on X: “Sincere and saddened condolences to the bereaved families and agents of the Ministry of Justice.

“The ‘Epervier’ plan was triggered. All means are being used to find these criminals. On my instructions, several hundred police officers and gendarmes were mobilised.”

Drug crime has spiralled across Europe, which has been flooded with cocaine in recent years. Marseille has been the epicentre of France’s gang violence, with a particularly violent war between trafficking clans.