Manhunt for fugitive inmate, accomplices continues after 2 prison guards killed in northern France

By Nur Asena Erturk

A manhunt continues in northern France to find a fugitive inmate and his accomplices after they killed two prison guards on Tuesday.

Two prison officers were killed in an attack on a penitentiary van that was transferring an inmate.

The gunmen ambushed the van near the tollbooths of Incarville in the north. They got the inmate free, killed two prison guards, and severely injured three others, broadcaster BFMTV reported.

The inmate was 30-year-old drug dealer Mohamed Amra from the city of Rouen, who was convicted of 13 crimes, including theft, and indicted on suspicion of homicide attempt.

The four accomplices who came to free Amra during his transfer used two vehicles - one of them stolen recently - , BFMTV said, referring to police sources. They attacked the penitentiary van with heavy weapons.

Unions of penitentiary workers across France decided to go on strike to protest the murders.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin on Tuesday said that hundreds of officers were deployed to find the fugitives.

The inmate attended a hearing in the city of Rouen in the morning and was on the way back to prison in the neighboring town of Evreux where he was detained.