Two Indians among 11 migrants arrested in Bosnia after mass fight

Sarajevo, February 2 

Police arrested 11 migrants, including two Indians, after a mass fight at their reception centre in Bosnia that left eight people seriously injured, a spokesman said on Saturday.

The fighting, involving several hundred migrants accommodated at the centre in the northwestern town of Bihac, began late Friday, Fena news agency quoted the police spokesman as saying.

After police brought the situation under control and questioned more than 30 migrants "eight Afghan nationals, two Indians and one Pakistani were arrested," spokesman Ale Siljdedic added.

The cause of the fighting was not immediately known.

Forty migrants sought medical help among whom eight were seriously injured most likely knife wounds, doctor Farun Helic said.

One migrant sustained life threatening injuries but is recovering, he added.

Bosnia has become a key transit country carrying migrants from Asia, the Middle East and North Africa towards the European Union.

More than 23,000 people trudged through the mountainous Balkan state last year in a bid to slip across the border to Croatia and move on into other EU countries.

While most manage to continue north, many have been thwarted by border police.

In 2018 border police caught nearly 4,500 illegal migrants, more than five times more compared with the previous year, according to a preliminary police report.

An estimated 4,500 to 6,000 migrants are currently in Bosnia. - AFP