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A manhunt is taking place in northern France for a prisoner who escaped during a deadly ambush. Mohamed Amra, known as "The Fly", was being taken back to jail from a court in Normandy on Tuesday when a car rammed his prison van at a toll booth. Armed men then opened fire on the vehicle, killing two officers and seriously injuring three others. The shooting marks the country's first fatal attack on prison staff for more than 30 years.
President Emmanuel Macron has told France that "everything is being done to find the perpetrators".
Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, Paris state prosecutor Laure Beccuau said the attack took place just before 11:00 local time when the van carrying Amra crossed the toll barrier in Incarville in the Eure region of northern France and "immediately, a Peugeot vehicle hit it from the front to stop it".
"Men with long guns got out, joined by other armed men who got out of an Audi vehicle, which was likely following the prison vehicle." They "fired several times" at the two vehicles, killing and injuring officers, before leaving the scene and taking Amra with them.
The Paris prosecutor said two vehicles believed to have been used by the criminals were found scorched, in different locations, later on Tuesday.
Mr Dupond-Moretti said on Tuesday that one of the officers killed "leaves behind a wife and two children who were meant to celebrate their 21st birthday in two days". While the second officer killed, aged 34, leaves behind a wife who is five months pregnant.
Three other officers were injured in the attack. As reported by local media, Ms Beccuau said the three injured officers are also fathers - aged 48, 52 and 55 years old.
Amra was convicted of burglary on 10 May and had been indicted by prosecutors in Marseille for a kidnapping that led to a death.
His lawyer, Hugues Vigier, told French news channel BFMTV "he would like to believe that he [Amra] didn't know about the plan to free him".
According to media reports, Amra had tried to escape his prison cell earlier this week by trying to saw the cell's bars.
Lewis Musonye
