Mexican soldiers kill six after opening fire on truck carrying migrants
Al Jazeera
Rights groups warn that migrants and asylum seekers journeying north through Mexico often experience violence.
The Mexican military has revealed that soldiers opened fire this week on a truck carrying dozens of migrants, killing six people.
Mexico’s Ministry of Defence announced in a press release on Wednesday that the incident took place near the town of Huixtla in the southern state of Chiapas the evening before, on October 1.
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, “military personnel identified 33 migrants of Egyptian, Nepalese, Cuban, Indian, Pakistani and Arab nationality, of whom 4 had died, 12 injured and 17 unharmed”, according to the press release.
It added that two more people died after being transported to a local hospital.
The shooting took place about 41km (25 miles) from the city of Tapachula on the border with Guatemala, an area where many migrants and asylum seekers begin their perilous journey north through Mexico.
