French police hunt killers behind prison van ambush
French police were on Wednesday hunting for a group of gunmen who killed two prison officers in an attack at a motorway toll that freed a convict linked to gangland drug killings.
The killings and dramatic getaway by the perpetrators have shocked France, with authorities under pressure to catch those responsible, who all remain at large.
"We have put a lot of resources into finding not only the person who escaped", but also "the gang that released him under such despicable circumstances," Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told the RTL broadcaster.
"We are putting in considerable resources, we are making a lot of progress," he added.
On Tuesday, more than 450 police officers and gendarmes were mobilised just for the search in the northern department of Eure where the attack took place, he said.
'We will be uncompromising'
Two prison officers were killed in the attack and three others wounded, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said late on Tuesday.
One of the injured men was fighting for his life in hospital and two more were receiving critical care, she said.
The incident took place late on Tuesday morning at a road toll in Incarville in the Eure region of northern France.
The inmate was being transported back to his prison in the town of Evreux after he was questioned by a judge in the regional centre of Rouen in Normandy.
The prosecutor said the prison van was rammed head-on by a stolen Peugeot vehicle as it went through the toll crossing.
But the van and another vehicle in the prison convoy were also followed by an Audi.
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