Two police officers were shot dead during a routine traffic stop in western Germany early Monday, said police.
An urgent search is now underway for the suspects, at least one of whom is armed, after the fatal shooting during a check on a rural road near the town of Kusel around 4.20am.
A 24-year-old policewoman and a 29-year-old policeman were killed in the shooting.
They had been able to radio for reinforcements, according to a police spokesperson, but could not be saved when other officers arrived.
The perpetrators fled, but as of Monday morning officers had no description of them, the car they used or what direction they fled in.
Around 7.30am, police said they had extended their search for the killers to the neighbouring state of Saarland.
The border with Saarland is just a short drive west of where the shooting took place.
Police called on drivers in the Kusel area not to pick up hitchhikers.
Kusel is around 90 miles southwest of Frankfurt and 25 miles west of the city of Kaiserslautern. The town is near the border with France and Luxembourg.
