Afghan migrant shot dead as EU strikes deal with Turkey

A television cameraman walks at the site where a man travelling with a large group of refugees from Afghanistan was shot by a border police officer the night before, near the town of Sredets, Bulgaria.

Sredets, Bulgaria - The fatal border shooting was the first of its kind in Europe's worst refugee crisis since World War II, the UN refugee agency said.

By AFP

Published: Fri 16 Oct 2015, 2:55 PM

Last updated: Fri 16 Oct 2015, 5:00 PM

The European Union on Friday grappled with a dark new turn in its refugee crisis after Bulgarian border guards shot dead an Afghan migrant in the first such fatality in the months-long humanitarian drama.

Mediterranean migrant crossings to Europe in 2015 soar past 600,000 mark: IOMGeneva - More than 613,000 migrants and refugees have crossed the Mediterranean to Europe since the beginning of the year and more than 3,100 have died trying, the International Organization for Migration said on Friday.
The UN refugee agency meanwhile said there had been a sharp increase in arrivals in Greece in recent days, with as many as 85 boats arriving daily. - AFP

The killing - described by Bulgaria as an accident that it deeply regretted - occurred late on Thursday, just before the EU and Turkey struck a deal aimed at stemming a massive influx of migrants into the bloc.
The accord, meanwhile, appeared to hit an early bump in the road as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan mocked Brussels for its contribution in tackling the Syrian refugee crisis and challenged it to take Ankara's bid for EU membership more seriously.
Read: Racism, insomnia plague Syrian refugee family in Germany
The fatal border shooting was the first of its kind in Europe's worst refugee crisis since World War II, the UN refugee agency said.
The man was among a group of 54 migrants spotted by a patrol near the southeastern town of Sredets close to the Turkish border, Bulgarian interior ministry official Georgy Kostov said on Friday.
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Bulgaria president 'deeply regrets' fatal shooting of migrant
Bulgaria's president said Friday that he "deeply regrets" the fatal shooting of an Afghan migrant by Bulgarian border police, calling for "rapid" EU action to tackle the refugee crisis.
"This tragic incident... gives me the opportunity to call for rapid common European measures to tackle the roots of the crisis," Rosen Plevneliev said after the killing of the migrant on Thursday.
"I call... on asylum-seekers not to commit actions that run counter to European and Bulgarian legislation and to respect laws that are binding to all," he said in a statement.
He added that Bulgaria "was one of the first European countries facing major migratory pressure and which took urgent measures to ensure the adequate protection of the EU's external borders."