Afghan Migrant Shot Dead in Serbia

The Serbian defence ministry said on Wednesday that the Afghan migrant was killed the previous day in woods near the town of Pirot in south-eastern Serbia.

A ministry statement said that a joint army and police unit heard a gunshot at around 9pm on Tuesday while patrolling near Pirot.

"Then they encountered six migrants, while one of them had a gunshot wound in the chest. There were four hunters at the scene as well," the statement said.

"The doctors at the scene could only declare that the 20-year-old citizen of Afghanistan was deceased," it added.

The ministry also said that police have arrested one of the hunters, a 39-year-old man from Pirot.

The number of refugees in Serbia has risen steadily since Hungary tightened security on its border with Serbia early in July.

Hungary has now ruled that any migrants or refugees found inside the country, up to eight kilometres from the border, must be sent back to the "transit" zone beyond the Hungarian fence on the Serbian border.

As a measure to stop the increase of refugees in Serbia, the government in Belgrade has sent a joint military and police force on its southern borders with Bulgaria and Macedonia.