Heavily armed gunmen freed a high-profile prisoner on Tuesday, attacking a prison van in France during a brazen, broad daylight ambush Tuesday that left two guards dead.
A massive search was launched following the deadly caper that also wounded three other guards around 11 a.m. at a highway tollbooth in Incarville, about 70 miles northwest of Paris, , Reuters reported.
"All means are being used to find these criminals. On my instructions, several hundred police officers and gendarmes were mobilized," Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
Two of the wounded guards were in critical condition, Justice Minister éric Dupond-Moretti told BFM TV.
An unconfirmed video clip circulating on social media showed two masked men dressed all in black carrying rifles walking near a burning SUV that appeared to have been rammed head-on into a white van with the French words for "Penitentiary Administration" on its side.
The recording appeared to have been made through the windows of a bus as it passed the scene.
The ambushed van was carrying Mohamed Amra, known as "The Fly," to jail after a court hearing in Rouen, the Associated Press reported.
Amra was recently sentenced for burglary and is under investigation for a kidnapping and homicide case in Marseille, public prosecutor Laure Beccuau said, according to AP.
Amra, 30, reportedly has ties to a powerful gang in Marseille known as the "Blacks."
Tuesday's attack is being treated as a case of organized crime and murder, Beccuau said.
French President Emmanuel Macron called the incident "a shock for all of us," adding, "The nation stands alongside the families, the injured and their colleagues."