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Afghan Migrant Shot Dead in Serbia


FILE - Serbian army soldiers and border police officers patrol near the border between Serbia and Bulgaria, not far from the border crossing Vrska Cuka, some 250 km (155 miles) southeast of Belgrade, Serbia, Monday, Aug. 15, 2016.
FILE - Serbian army soldiers and border police officers patrol near the border between Serbia and Bulgaria, not far from the border crossing Vrska Cuka, some 250 km (155 miles) southeast of Belgrade, Serbia, Monday, Aug. 15, 2016.

Serbia's defense ministry says a 20-year old Afghan migrant crossing illegally from Bulgaria has been shot dead, apparently by hunters.

The ministry said Wednesday that its border patrol heard a shot Tuesday night and then discovered six migrants, of whom one had a chest wound. He later died.

The ministry says a hunter who was at the scene was detained on suspicion that he shot the migrant.

Since the so-called Balkan migrant route was closed in March after more than 1 million used it to head for the EU last year, hundreds fleeing wars and poverty are still crossing daily from Bulgaria through Serbia to try to make it into EU-member Hungary.

UNHCR has estimated that there are currently some 4,400 migrants stuck in Serbia.

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