One dies, two wounded in France migrant camp gunfire
A shooting at a migrant camp in northern France killed one person Sunday, a police source said, coming a day after gunfire in the same area killed one man and left five others wounded.
The shots near the Loon-Plage camp outside Dunkirk on Sunday also left two seriously wounded, a police source said on Monday. No details were immediately available regarding the victims’ identities.
The shooting on Sunday came just a day after a similar incident near the migrant camp where more than 1,500 people reside, in which a 24-year-old Sudanese man was killed.
Many people with ambitions of reaching Britain gather on the shores of northern France, hoping to make the perilous sea crossing across the Channel.
A police source told AFP that all the victims in Saturday’s shooting were Sudanese nationals and that one of the injured was a child.
In connection with Saturday’s shooting, authorities arrested two suspects: a 29-year-old who claimed to be from Iraq and a 16-year-old who said he was from Afghanistan, according to the public prosecutor’s office on Saturday.
An investigation has been opened into murder and attempted murder by an organised gang, the public prosecutor’s office added.
France and Britain have vowed to crack down on people-smugglers who charge steep fees for migrants to board often overloaded and unseaworthy boats.
British authorities said that, on Friday, 919 people landed on its shore after crossing the Channel in 14 small boats.
Since the start of the year, at least 15 migrants have died at sea while trying to reach England, French authorities say.
Last year, more than 36,800 people crossed the Channel, up 25 per cent from 2023, according to British figures.
According to French authorities, 78 migrants died in 2024 while trying to reach England aboard small boats, a record since the start of the trend in 2018.
AFP
