SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) – An apparent shootout among rival migrant groups near an asylum camp in Bosnia has left six people wounded, including five seriously, police said on Tuesday.
The shooting happened on Monday evening near the camp in the village of Blazuj, on the outskirts of the capital of Sarajevo. Police raided and searched the camp and detained several suspects.
Bosnian media reported that the shooting followed a clash between rival smugglers bringing in groups from Afghanistan and Pakistan. Reports said two of the injured remain in life-threatening condition.
Migrants on the so-called Balkan land route to reach Western Europe often use people smugglers to transfer them illegally to neighboring European Union member Croatia. The numbers of people crossing through the Balkans has fallen in the past several years, after hundreds of thousands passed in 2015 and 2016.
Migrants from the Middle East, Africa or Asia often face dangers on their long journeys and abuse in the hands of people-smuggling gangs who often clash for control or with the authorities.
In neighboring Serbia on weekend, a migrant was killed in a shootout with police who raided what they said was an illegal camp near the border with Croatia.
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