Mexican soldiers kill six after opening the fire on truck with migrants | Migration News

Human rights groups warn that migrants and asylum seekers traveling north through Mexico often face violence.

The Mexican military has announced that this week soldiers opened the fire on a truck with dozens of migrants and killed six people.

The Mexican Ministry of Defense announced on Wednesday in a press release that the incident occurred the evening before, on October 1, near the city of Huixtla in the southern state of Chiapas.

Immediately after the shooting, “military personnel identified 33 migrants of Egyptian, Nepalese, Cuban, Indian, Pakistani and Arab nationalities, of whom four died, 12 were injured and 17 were uninjured,” the release said.

It added that two more people died after being taken to a local hospital.

The shootout occurred about 41 km (25 miles) from the city of Tapachula on the border with Guatemala, an area in which many migrants and asylum seekers begin their dangerous trip north through Mexico.

Immigrant rights groups say violence and abuse by Mexican law enforcement and criminal groups is widespread.

According to the Defense Ministry, the two soldiers who opened fire were removed from their posts. The case was referred to both the federal prosecutor's office and the military court.

According to reports, the incident occurred on Tuesday (Wednesday, 2:50 a.m. GMT) around 8:50 p.m. when soldiers noticed a pick-up-like vehicle that moved at high speed.

The press release said the truck “eluded the military personnel” and was followed by two vehicles similar to those used by criminal groups in the area. The two soldiers opened fire after “hearing detonations,” the Defense Ministry said, without giving further details.

The military said that it was working with the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs to coordinate the messages that represent the countries of the victims. The 17 migrants who were uninjured in the shooting were handed over to Mexican migration authorities.

Critics say that migrants and asylum seekers who go north to the United States to the trip to the north often have to pay the price of increasing law enforcement efforts.

The US government has urged Mexico to intensify the enforcement efforts in order to contain irregular migration to the north, although the topic has led to tensions between the two countries.

Former Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, for example, criticized the efforts of the United States to build a wall along the common border of the two countries.

The government of US President Joe Biden has also taken steps to limit access to asylum at the border with Mexico, a step that is widely condemned by groups for the rights of immigrants.

Last year, the International Organization for Migration named the way to the border between the USA and Mexico the “deadliest country path for migrants worldwide” and referred to risks from the environment and criminal groups.