Two police officers have been shot dead while on a routine patrol in western Germany, reports say.
The officers were making a traffic check near Kusel at about 4:20am when the shooting happened, according to a statement from police in Kaiserslautern.
The perpetrators fled from the scene and police have said that they have no description of them, no details of what car they used or which direction they fled in.
When police reinforcements arrived at the scene, it was already too late for the 24-year-old officer and her 29-year-old colleague, german newspaper Der Spiegel reported.
A spokesperson told the paper: “The colleagues are affected, everyone knows each other, the West Palatinate is not particularly large.”
Police asked drivers in the Kusel area not to pick up hitchhikers and warned that at least one suspect is armed.
