A huge manhunt is under way for a heavily armed male suspect after two Australian police officers were shot dead and one injured in an ambush at a property in a small rural town in Victoria state.
Police described the situation in Porepunkah in the Australian Alps - some 300km (186 miles) north-east of Melbourne - as an active incident with hundreds of personnel deployed to find the suspect.
Officers were attacked as ten of them attended the property to serve an arrest warrant, which Australian media said was for historical sex offences.
Police say the suspect escaped into the bush alone and on foot after the shooting. Officers are still trying to locate the man's wife and children.
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush said ten officers went to the property on Tuesday at about 10:30 local time (00:30 GMT).
He described officers being fired upon by a heavily armed offender, saying two colleagues - a 59-year-old detective and a 35-year-old senior constable - were murdered in cold blood. A third officer was seriously injured and airlifted to hospital.
The state police chief said all the available resources were being used in the manhunt for a dangerous suspect, and urged locals to stay indoors.
Mr. Bush did not confirm the nature of the raid that officers were executing at the property, but said their priority is to bring safety back to the community. Alpine Shire Council Mayor Sarah Nicholas expressed deep sorrow for the event and offered support to the victims' families.
The police force is taking the incident very seriously, as reports suggest the alleged gunman identifies as a self-declared sovereign citizen—a movement in Australia linked to various incidents of violence against officers in recent years. Gun crime is typically rare in Australia, which has some of the strictest gun laws in the world.
