24 Migrants were Killed while Trying to Cross into Melilla, Northern Morocco

Morocco announced on Saturday evening that the number of migrant deaths had risen to 23, as hundreds of people attempted to cross the border fence separating the Spanish-controlled cities of Melilla and the Moroccan province of Nador in the north.

Moroccan state television said that the number of deaths in the incident that occurred on Friday rose to 23, after the announced number was 18, in addition to the injury of 140 members of the Moroccan security forces.

Meanwhile, the Moroccan Association for Human Rights said the death toll had reached 29, while Spain confirmed that no one had died on the Spanish side of the border.

The delegation of the Spanish central government in Melilla said that about 1,500 migrants approached the Al-Siyag area, despite the intensive deployment of Moroccan security forces and the ongoing coordination between them and their Spanish counterparts.

133 migrants managed to enter Melilla across the border, which is two parallel fences 6 meters high. The Spanish news agency Europa Press, quoting the police, reported that the migrants forcibly opened one of the gates at the border.

The Moroccan Interior Ministry said that initially 5 migrants were killed in the attack on the border, some of them after falling from the fence surrounding Melilla or being crushed, and 76 migrants were injured. It later said 13 others had died.

The Moroccan Ministry of Interior added that violent skirmishes lasted two hours and resulted in about 140 members of the Moroccan security forces injured, 5 of whom were seriously injured, but this did not result in the death of any of the security personnel.

Over the past 10 years, Melilla and Ceuta, the second Spanish-controlled enclave on the northern coast of Africa, have become a magnet for migrants trying to reach Europe, mostly from sub-Saharan countries.

For his part, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez praised the security forces on both sides of the border for responding to a “violent and well-organised attack”, noting that it was organized by the “human trafficking mafia”.

Sanchez confirmed the improvement of relations between Madrid and Rabat, and said, “I would like to thank the exceptional cooperation that we are having with the Kingdom of Morocco, which shows the need for good relations between the two countries.”

The Moroccan Association for Human Rights in Nador said the incursion came a day after migrants clashed with Moroccan security personnel in an attempt to remove the camps they had set up in a forest near Melilla.

The association’s president, Omar Nagy, told Reuters that the clash came as part of an “intense campaign” against migrants since Spanish and Moroccan forces resumed joint patrols and reinforced security measures in the area around Melilla.