Hours-Long Migrant Gang Gun Battle Leaves Three Dead at Hungary’s Border

Three people were killed and one more injured during a raging hours-long battle between migrant smuggling gangs at the Serbia-Hungary border leaving locals caught up in Europe’s migrant crisis fearing for their lives.

Police rushed to the village of Horgos in northern Serbia in the pre-dawn hours of Friday morning after locals reported a raging gun battle in the nearby Selevenjske nature reserve on the Hungarian border. Per reports, the intensity of the battle decreased after officers with long rifles descended on the area, but nevertheless, the battle lasted several hours.

Police rounded up a vanload of illegal migrants and took them away, and discovered the mortal remains of three people who had been killed in the shootout. A fourth migrant was discovered with a gunshot wound and underwent surgery in a local hospital on Friday, and is described as being in stable condition. More migrants are believed to have escaped the police through the woods in which they camp before trying to head north by forcing the Hungarian border.

While the nationality of the migrants killed and arrested has not yet been released, previous smuggler gunbattles in the area have been attributed to Afghan and Pakistani trafficking gangs vying for custom on the so-called Balkan route for migrants heading to the more lucrative northern European states.

Witnesses cited by Hungarian and Serbian newspapers said of the fight that “the crackling of machine guns can be heard constantly”, while another said “They’ve been shooting continuously since 3 a.m., it’s scary!”. Per these reports, during a 30-minute surge in violence in the several-hour-long battle, there were simultaneous shots from handguns and constant burst fire from automatic weapons.

While no locals were reported injured, the battle rattled nerves and the local school reported only half of its pupils attended on Friday, as residents were too frightened to let their children out of the house.

The mayor insisted while residents were not at risk, they should nevertheless not approach the outskirts of their settlement. Máté Kocsis, a Fidesz ally of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban reflected on today’s slayings near the Hungarian border, warning European Union plans to force more migration on European states would make the issue worse. He said: “Well, we talked about this, but to no avail, the politicians in Brussels are forcing migration, and would even further relax the rules. There will be more and more trouble, and the Brussels elite must be held accountable!”.

Perhaps most shocking for the residents of this rural border community between Serbia and Hungary is that such gun battles are no longer that unusual, as migrant smuggling gangs fight to secure business and territory. Horgos is part of a small piece of frontier land with the villages of Palić and Hajdukovo which, as previously reported, have seen several migrant gang gun battles in villages just minutes’ car ride from each other.

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