French prison van attackers 'public enemy No 1': minister

The gunmen who attacked a prison van and killed two officers to free a convict are France's "public enemy No. 1", the interior minister said Thursday, insisting the hunt for the fugitives was progressing well.

Speaking to broadcaster France 2, Gerald Darmanin said that 350 investigators had been mobilised to search for the perpetrators of Tuesday's attack and the convict they freed, adding that the police were "making very good progress."

"They are public enemy No. 1," Darmanin said.

He vowed to do everything to arrest and bring to justice those who killed the prison officers "in cold blood, with Kalashnikovs."

On Tuesday, gunmen attacked a prison van at a motorway toll at Incarville, just south of Normandy capital Rouen, killing two prison officers and freeing a convict linked to gangland drug killings.

The officers guarding Mohamed Amra, 30, were armed with pistols while the assailants attacked with military-grade assault weapons.

The prison officers who died were the first to be killed in the line of duty since 1992.

"I am following this case minute by minute," Darmanin said.

"The police and the Republic will win in the end", he said, adding that the attackers should "remain in prison for the rest of their lives".

Locating and apprehending the fugitives is a major priority for the government as it seeks to show it is serious about public order ahead of European elections in June.

Global police body Interpol has issued a red notice, at the request of France, which asks law enforcement worldwide to locate and apprehend Amra. Darmanin declined to say whether he thought the attackers had already left France.

On Wednesday, prison officer unions announced a day of minimum service and asked for urgent measures to improve the safety of staff.

On Thursday, prison officers staged another day of protests.

Around 40 prison officers gathered on Thursday morning outside a prison in the northwestern town of Caen where the two victims were from.

At Caen-Ifs, another prison on the other side of the town, around 70 staff burned tyres, an AFP correspondent said.

Ludovic Motheron, head of the CGT penitentiary union in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, which spans the west and southwest of France, said authorities' pledges did not go far enough.

"They've promised us a few things to try and ease the pressure a little", he said.

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