France prison van attack LIVE: Latest updates as manhunt is launched after two guards are killed during ambush by masked gunmen while inmate nicknamed ‘The Fly’ escapes

Published: 14:42, 14 May 2024 | Updated: 14:59, 14 May 2024

At least two prison officers have been killed in France [2] after a van carrying inmates was ambushed by masked gunmen to free a suspected drug trafficker nicknamed 'The Fly'.

The van was attacked by men armed with pump-action rifles at around 11am on the A154 motorway near the Incarville tollbooth, located in the town of Val-de-Reuil, Normandy, northern France.

Authorities have confirmed two guards have been killed while another three are seriously injured.

MailOnline will provide live updates as French police launch a manhunt to find the assailants and detainee

What we know about Mohammed Amra: The escaped inmate known as The Fly

Inmate Mohammed AmraThree prison officers have been shot dead after four gunmen ambushed their vehicle at a French tollbooth, before freeing the inmate and fleeing on foot.The prison van was attacked after 11am on the A154 motorway near the Incarville tollbooth, located in the town of Val-de-Reuil, Normandy, northern France.At least three French guards were killed, and two others were left wounded, following the attack which saw the assailants and detainee, Mohamed A, 30, managing to escape the scene.

Amra (pictured above) has been identified by French media as the detainee who escaped from the prison van when it was attacked by masked gumnen earlier today.

Here's what we know about him:

Amra was reportedly sentenced to 18 months in prison last Tuesday following a burglary offence and he has a previous conviction for attempted murder.
A police source told the Le Parisien newspaper that Amra was 'the head of a narcotics network' in France, and is considered hugely dangerous.
The French publication also reported Amra attempted to escape his prison cell just two days before today's escape and that he was allegedly placed in solitary confinement as his surveillance was increased.
According to BFMTV, Amra was jailed by a court in Normandy after thefts from supermarkets and businesses in the suburbs of Evreux between August and October 2019.
He is also said to have been indicted for attempted homicide in Saint-Etienne du-Rouvray.

Everything we know so far on the France prison van attack

A forensic is at work at the site of a ramming attack which took place late morning at a road toll in Incarville in the Eure region of northern France, on May 14, 2024.
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pThree French prison officers were killed and two others wounded on May 14 in an attack on a prison van transporting an inmate who escaped, a police source told AFP. (Photo by ALAIN JOCARD / AFP) (Photo by ALAIN JOCARD/AFP via Getty Images)

Here's what we know so far about the France prison van attack:

The prison van was attacked after 11am on the A154 motorway near the Incarville tollbooth, located in the town of Val-de-Reuil, Normandy
French justice minister Eric Dupond-Moretti has confirmed two guards were killed and three left seriously injured while an inmate named Mohammed Amra escaped
The prisoner, reportedly nicknamed 'La Mouche' or The Fly, was being transported between the towns of Rouen and Evreux in Normandy at the time of the attack.
French media has report Amra was sentenced to 18 months in prison last Tuesday for theft offences but is also suspected of attempted murder.
French president Emmanuel Macron described the attack as a 'shock for all of us' in a statement on X.

We will bring you the latest developments on this story as we get them.

Here's Taryn Pedler and Peter Allan's story of the terrifyuing moment masked gunmen ambushed a prison van near a tollbooth in northern France.

Footage captured by a bus passenger shows the armed assailants aiming their weapns at the prison van as the attack unfolded.

References

^ Jamie Bullen (www.dailymail.co.uk)
^ France (www.dailymail.co.uk)