A shootout between migrant groups near the Serbia-Hungary border has left one person dead and at least six others injured. The clash involved Afghan and Pakistani migrant smugglers, local media reported.
One migrant was killed and at least six others were injured in a shootout near the Serbian-Hungarian border on Saturday (July 2), Serbian state-run RTS television reported.
The clash took place in a forest in the outskirts of Subotica, about a kilometer (0.6 miles) from the Hungarian border and 160 kilometers north of Belgrade. The migrants had been stranded there while trying to cross into European Union member Hungary.
The injured, aged between 20 and 30, were taken to a nearby hospital, including a 16-year-old girl who sustained life threatening injuries in the clash, Serbian media reported, quoting medics.
The injured migrants have no documents, Subotica Mayor Stevan Bakic told local media.
Investigations ongoing
Police, who made no immediate comment about the incident, blocked off the area where the shooting took place while conducting an investigation.
It is not known what triggered the clash, Interior Minister Aleksandar Vulin said, who attended the scene.
The shootout also involved migrant smugglers from Afghanistan and Pakistan who take money to traffic migrants across the border, local media reported. The reports, however, could not be independently verified.
Thousands of migrants fleeing conflict and poverty in Africa, Asia and the Middle East remain stranded in the Balkans, a major route for those trying to reach Western Europe.
With AFP and AP