Hundreds of police are hunting armed men who attacked a prison van in France – with a convict reportedly nicknamed “The Fly” escaping.
Two male prison officers were shot dead and three others seriously injured during the ambush on a motorway in Incarville, northwest France, at around 9am.
Justice minister Eric Dupond-Moretti said one of the officers leaves behind a pregnant wife, while the other was a 21-year-old father-of-two.
He said two of the injured guards are in a critical condition after Tuesday’s ambush.
The officers were transporting convict Mohamed Amra, 30, when they came under heavy fire, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office.
Footage shows a black car driving into the front of a white van, and later two armed men patrolling near a tollbooth on the A154 motorway.
Several men used two vehicles to target the van – with one later found burnt-out, a police source told French news agency AFP.
Mohamed Amra’s nickname is said to be ‘The Fly’, according to French media
Amra had been serving an 18-month sentence for “aggravated thefts” in the suburbs of Evreux, northwest France, according to BFM TV.
The French broadcaster said his nickname is “The Fly”.
Police sources said Amra is involved in international drug dealing, suspected of ordering a murder in Marseille, and has ties to the city’s powerful “Blacks” gang.
The ambush reportedly happened as he was being taken back to prison following an appearance at a Rouen court on attempted homicide charges.
Footage showed the aftermath of the collision
A prison source told Le Parisien that Amra tried to saw the bars off his cell a few days ago – with the convict reportedly put in solitary confinement.
The publication said he was re-evaluated and put in the higher risk ‘Escort 3 category, meaning more guards were necessary to supervise him during transportation.
Gerald Darmanin, France’s interior minister, said “several hundred police officers” had been deployed to “find these criminals”.
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French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on X: “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.”
“Everything, I mean everything, will be done to find the perpetrators of this despicable crime,” added justice minister Eric Dupond-Moretti.
“These are people for whom life weighs nothing. They will be arrested, they will be judged, and they will be punished according to the crime they committed.”
