Morocco navy fires on migrants boat, wounds 1

The Moroccan navy has opened fire on a boat carrying migrants, wounding one person, the Moroccan official MAP news agency reported on Wednesday.

The military source said that the guard used several warning shots before shooting on the vessel.

The arrested boat carried 58 Moroccan suspected as illegal migrants who were hidden in the boat, including a man who was slightly injured in his right shoulder and then quickly evacuated to receive necessary health care, the same source added.

The navy's shooting was the second of its kind in two weeks.

On September 25, a Moroccan naval patrol opened fire on a speedboat transporting migrants to Spain, killing a 22-year-old woman and wounding three others.

The Moroccan Interior Ministry said that a naval unit operating in the Mediterranean was forced to fire on the boat after its Spanish captain refused to respond to several warnings.

Moroccan navy has rescued a total of 1,067 migrants since last weekend.

In recent months, Morocco has been witnessing a significant hike in illegal immigration attempts.

Morocco thwarted at least 54,000 attempts to smuggle illegal immigrants into Europe in the first eight months of 2018, compared with 39,000 attempts a year earlier, the Moroccan government said.