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An inmate is on the run after escaping from a prison van fatally ambushed by gunmen in northern France.
At least two prison officers were killed in the attack launched shortly after 11am on the A154 motorway in Val-de-Reuil in Normandy, according to local reports. Three more are seriously injured, said France’s justice minister Eric Dupond-Morett.
A prisoner who was being transported in the van has fled alongside the attackers, Le Parisien reported, after the prison van was ambushed by four armed men in two vehicles at a tollbooth near the commune of Incarville.
Interior minister Gérald Darmanin said hundreds of police officers and gendarmes had been mobilised in a hunt for the escaped prisoner and attackers, adding: “All means are being used to find these criminals.”
Footage from the scene appeared to show a hooded attacker in all black firing an assault rifle at the prisoner convoy. One of the attackers was injured in retaliatory fire, a prison officer union boss said.
Major manhunt launched as hundreds of officers mobilised, interior minister says
France’s interior minister Gérald Darmanin said a major manhunt had been launched.
“All means are being used to find these criminals. On my instructions, several hundred police officers and gendarmes were mobilized,” he wrote on X.
Andy Gregory14 May 2024 12:54
Full report: Officers killed and inmate ‘on the run’ after ambush on prison van in France
At least two French prison officers have been killed after a van carrying a prisoner was ambushed.
Three more were seriously injured in the attack which occurred at the Inarville toll on the A154 motorway in Val-de-Reuil in the Eure department, Normandy, shortly after 11am, according to reports in French media.
Le Parisien reported an inmate who was being transported in the van has fled alongside the attackers.
My colleague Barney Davis has the breaking report here, which you can refresh for updates:
Andy Gregory14 May 2024 12:49
Good afternoon, we’ll be using this blog to bring you the latest updates after a prison van was fatally ambushed in northern France, with a vast hunt unfolding for the perpetrators and an escaped inmate.
Andy Gregory14 May 2024 12:47
