The NGO Caminando Fronteras denounced on Monday the death of a sub-Saharan woman following a shooting by the Moroccan gendarmerie during an operation to prevent the departure of a boat to the Canary Islands. According to the EFE agency, the facts took place overnight from Sunday to Monday, when the boat was carrying 35 migrants, including 29 Sub-Saharans and 6 Moroccans, including 15 women and 2 children.
NGO spokeswoman Helena Maleno said three other men in the hospital also suffered gunshot wounds. Citing testimonies collected by the association, she added that it is a boat that was about to leave the coast in an area located between the locality of Tarfaya, in southern Morocco, and that of Akhfenir.
The gendarmerie would have intervened to abort the attempt and its elements would have fired “several shots which killed the woman with a bullet in the chest and injured three other men”, continues EFE. Caminando Fronteras adds that two other men among the group were allegedly injured by police vehicles.
The injured people, like the remains of the deceased migrant, were reportedly transferred to the Moulay Hassan Ben Mehdi regional hospital center in Laâyoune.
The Moroccan authorities have not yet commented on the incident, concludes EFE.
