Truck carrying migrants from India, Pakistan and Nepal shot by Mexican soldiers; 6 deaths | Latest news India

A truck carrying migrants from India, Pakistan, Nepal and several other countries was fired upon by Mexican soldiers near the border with Guatemala, resulting in the deaths of six migrants, Mexico’s Defense Ministry said Wednesday.

The soldiers claimed they heard gunfire as the truck and two other vehicles approached their position in Chiapas, near Huixtla, late on Monday.

Two soldiers shot at the truck and four migrants were found dead on the spot, and twelve others were injured. Two of the injured later died and the condition of the other 10 remains unclear, The Associated Press reported.

The department did not specify whether the migrants were killed by the gunfire or if any weapons were found in the truck.

Seventeen other migrants in the vehicle were unharmed, bringing the total number of migrants to 33. The area is a known smuggling route, where migrants are often packed into overcrowded trucks.

The department said the two soldiers who fired their weapons have been relieved of duty while the investigation is ongoing. In Mexico, incidents involving civilians can lead to civil prosecution, but soldiers can also be brought before a military court-martial for such crimes.

The incident is not the first time Mexican forces have opened fire on vehicles carrying migrants in the area, which is often the scene of wars between rival drug cartels.

In 2021, the quasi-military National Guard shot at a pickup truck carrying migrants in the same region, killing one and wounding four.

Irineo Mujica, a migrant rights activist who often accompanies caravans in Chiapas, expressed skepticism that the migrants or their smugglers shot at the soldiers.

“It is really impossible that these people would have shot at the army,” Mujica said. “They usually get through by paying bribes.”

If the deaths are the result of army fire, as seems likely, it could be a significant embarrassment for newly installed President Claudia Sheinbaum, who took office on Tuesday.

Although the events took place just hours before Sheinbaum officially became president at midnight on Monday, she has continued former President Andres Manuel López Obrador’s approach by granting the armed forces significant powers in law enforcement, as well as in state-owned enterprises, airports, trains and construction projects.

With AP inputs