Following a violent gunfight in which two national guards were killed on Sunday night, four jihadist inmates have escaped from the main jail in Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania.
The identity of the four escapees is unknown, but the interior ministry of the nation reported on Monday that two further guards had been shot.
According to AFP, the ministry declared that the National Guard had tightened its supervision of the jail and had immediately begun looking for the fugitives in order to apprehend them as quickly as possible.
Following the escape, which was reported by the ministry to have occurred at 9:00 pm (2100 GMT) on Sunday, it urged citizens to share any information that could aid in the capture of the fugitives.