Two police officers have been shot dead while on patrol in western Germany.
The shooting happened during a traffic stop near Kusel at about 04:20 hours on Monday, police in Kaiserslautern said in a statement.
It is understood that the officers – a 24-year-old woman and 29-year-old man – were able to put out a call for help, but by the time their colleagues arrived on the scene, little could be done to save them.
The suspects fled the scene of the shooting, with officers having no information concerning their descriptions or in which direction they escaped.
It is unknown if the officers were wearing body-worn cameras or if their patrol vehicle was fitted with CCTV.
Police called on drivers in the Kusel area not to pick up hitchhikers and warned that at least one suspect was armed.
The whole area has been sealed off as a manhunt for the shooters continues.
Join our WhatsApp community!
ESN is now on WhatsApp, and we want you to join our 'read only' channel.
To join, you need to have WhatsApp on your device. All you need to do is click the link and press 'Join community'.
No one will be able to see who is signed up, and no one can send messages except the ESN team.You won't get any 'SPAM' just news stories & videos written & produced by our team of former emergency services personnel.
Joining our WhatsApp channel is a great way to help support our work and best of all, it is free!
If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community, click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'.