Two die at Spain's African border

SPAIN: Two men were killed yesterday in the latest attempt by African migrants to storm Spain's border fence with Morocco, and…

SPAIN: Two men were killed yesterday in the latest attempt by African migrants to storm Spain's border fence with Morocco, and at least one of them was likely shot, Spanish and Moroccan officials said.

The men died when up to 70 migrants rushed the six-metre (19 feet eight inch) high fence at dawn with makeshift ladders. Moroccan guards fired warning shots to stop them entering Spain's African enclave of Melilla, the officials said.

It was the first mass assault on Spain's African enclaves since October 2005. Then, six men were shot dead when Moroccan troops opened fire on more than 100 migrants.

One of the dead men fell onto the Spanish side of the fence while the other died on the way to a Moroccan hospital. At least eight others were seriously injured by razor wire.

READ MORE

"We have various hypotheses but the first we are working on is that the cause of death was a gunshot," Spanish government official Jose Fernandez Chacon said of the migrant whose body was recovered in Melilla.

Madrid has since sent more troops to its border and doubled the height of its border fence to block migrants.

The identity of the dead man in Melilla was not given, but Spanish police said he was from sub-Saharan Africa.

Mr Chacon said it was not clear whether Moroccan border guards fired the shot that killed him. Spanish border police do not carry firearms, only anti-riot weapons, he said. Spanish authorities in Melilla are carrying out an autopsy on the man.

Moroccan officials said the other migrant died of injuries from the razor wire. In total, five migrants made it onto the Spanish side of the border fence.

Next week, Rabat is due to host an Africa-Europe conference to forge a joint strategy to stem the heavy migrant flow from north and sub-Saharan African into Europe.

Separately yesterday, Moroccan authorities found the bodies of 21 migrants who drowned when a boat carrying them towards Spain's Canary Islands sank off the Western Sahara coast.

Eighteen corpses were washed up shortly after dawn yesterday and three were found later, Moroccan officials said.