Many motorists driving in rush-hour traffic on the main Dublin to Wexford road were caught up in the gunfire which broke out shortly after 5 p.m. at a sharp bend just before the village of Ashford, Co Wicklow.
Witnesses described diving into thick undergrowth as the raid on a Securicor van was aborted within seconds of gardai coming on the scene.
An elderly couple were driving south to Avoca when the raiders set up a roadblock using a blue Ford Transit van at a narrow stretch of the road with thick wood cover on both sides. The raider who died at the scene hijacked their car and was reported to have been shot as he attempted to escape towards Dublin.
The driver said he was attempting to turn his car when the gunman with a balaclava pointed a handgun at him and told him to get out of the car. His wife told the gunman to leave them alone. "I said `go away, my husband has a heart condition', but he was shouting at us to get out."
They heard gardai shouting at them to get down. They jumped into a ditch and immediately heard shots which they understood hit the raider in their car.
"Our car was riddled with bullets. Our two jackets ended up covering the body on the road. It was fairly obvious he was dead. They tried to resuscitate him but failed." Her husband added: "It was frightening but full marks to the guards. They did a great job under extreme difficulties."
A care worker who was bringing five young children for a weekend trip to a holiday home in Brittas, Co Wicklow, was in a van immediately behind them which was rammed by a getaway car. None of the occupants was injured though they were just 20 yards from the Securicor van.
"We were threatened by one armed man. A garda then took two of the children to safety. I was taking the remaining three. They were scared and crying. Just as I was trying to get away, there were shouts to get down. I think they found another raider in the bushes," she said. Mr Breffni Earley from Delgany, Co Wicklow, who was travelling north in the second car be hind the Securicor van, said a raider with a rifle ordered him out of the car. A raider with a rocket-launcher over his shoulder aimed it at the security van.
"It was clear to me that it wasn't the real thing. The damage it could have done in such a scene if it was doesn't bear thinking about."
Mr Earley said he dived into the undergrowth as between six and eight shots were heard. One of the armed raiders who seemed to come from the rear of the convoy heading towards Dublin tried to escape from the scene, but a plain clothes garda in a Renault car rammed his vehicle. "It looked as if the raider got away. He may have been caught later."
At least 12 gardai were on the scene within 30 seconds of the convoy being stopped, of whom about half came from the Ashford side of the road.
An electrical contractor from Dublin whose van was to the rear of a convoy of five vehicles behind the security van attempted to run away when he was confronted by a gunman waving a shotgun.
"There was mayhem. I tried to get away. The gardai then thought I was one of the raiders before I ran towards Ashford just as there was about half a dozen shots."
At least eight vehicles were involved in the ambush including those owned by motorists caught up in the foiled raid which occurred a few hundred yards south of the Cullenmore Hotel, less than three miles north of Ashford.
A Toyota Carina mounted a ditch while a jeep and another came to a stop at an angle in the middle of the road.
Gardai with the help of Garda trainees and local volunteers also cordoned off fields immediately adjoining the scene as a build-up of holiday weekend traffic going south stretched back for several miles. Traffic going north was diverted to the coast road towards Roundwood.
Gardai say the scene is likely to be preserved until later today, which could lead to further delays.
