Croat Police Wound Children by Firing on Van Carrying Refugees

(Bloomberg) -- Croatian police opened fire on a van carrying migrants from Bosnia and Herzegovina that crossed the border without permission, wounding two 12-year-old children, the N1 broadcaster reported.

Police acted "in self-defense" late Wednesday after the driver refused to stop, N1 said, citing police spokesman Elis Zodan. The children were taken to a hospital in the city of Zadar, and their condition is stable. The van was carrying 29 people, mostly from Iraq and Afghanistan and seven other people were hurt, N1 said. The driver fled and remains at large.

Serbia and its fellow former Yugoslav republic Macedonia saw about 1 million refugees cross their borders in 2015, at the height of Europe’s worst migration crisis since World War II. Serbia has not reported an increase in migrant arrivals this year so far.

To contact the reporter on this story: Gordana Filipovic in Belgrade at gfilipovic@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Andrea Dudik at adudik@bloomberg.net, Michael Winfrey, Andras Gergely

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