Survivor of migrant camp shooting says he saw his friends murdered by ‘the angel of death’
Shocked and bruised, a survivor of a shooting at a migrant camp near Dunkirk has told Sky News how he saw his friends murdered by “the angel of death”.
Warning: This story contains an image readers may find distressing
Two migrants and two security guards were shot dead by a 22-year-old French gunman at a migrant camp in Loon-Plage on Saturday, while a further victim was targeted in a nearby town, according to local media.
The two migrants had just returned from the coast after being rescued in the middle of the English Channel after a failed attempt to reach Britain.
Matin, a 25-year-old Kurdish migrant, said that “a guy came with a shotgun and showered us with bullets”.
When we asked if anything had provoked the attack, he said he did not know any reason. “The gunman came and, all of sudden, drew a shotgun.
“Initially, we thought he would fire in the air and then he loaded the gun and aimed at us. We saw Azrael [the Islamic Angel of Death].
“We saw death with our own eyes. It was God’s will that we survived. In one day, we saw death twice.”
The two victims, named Hamid and Hadi, were walking along with their two friends, Rashad and Matin. All four migrants, aged around 25, were Kurds who had spent around a month living in camps near the northern French coast.
One of the two migrants who were shot dead
Sky News spoke to Matin by telephone after he gave evidence to the French police, describing a green car used by the killer, who he described as a white French man wearing glasses.
“He fired around 15 bullets; Hamid was hit in the head and Hadi was also hit. Rashad was shot at twice but he wasn’t hit. We managed to hide.”
Read more:
‘Almost 13,460 people removed from UK’ since Labour elected
UK sees busiest December day on record for migrant crossings
Matin said the four men had previously spent eight hours at sea trying to get to Britain on a dinghy that was palpably unsuitable. The boat set off with 85 people on board before, he said, the police took 50 people off.
Sky News understands the migrants who died were called Hamid and Hadi, and had tried to cross the Channel to the UK earlier on Saturday
“We reached international waters,” said Matin, “then our dinghy fell apart and we almost drowned. After five minutes in the water, thank God the police reached us – we had no life jackets.
“They pulled us out of the water, we were soaking wet. We got back to the land and went to collect clothes [from a charity] as our clothes were wet. We were dying of cold.
“We were close to the camp when this man turns up and gets out of the car. He fired at us. Me and Rashad were not hit. Hamid was hit in the head and Hadi in his stomach.
“I have to talk to their families, but I don’t know what to say. Hamid had sold his house to get to Europe. Me, I feel hollow inside now.
“I have seen death twice in a day and it’s too much. I don’t know what to do.”
A 22-year-old man claiming to be the gunman handed himself to the nearby Ghyvelde police station at 5pm local time on Saturday.
This is the highest stakes diplomacy via social media.
The American president just posted on his Truth Social platform: “We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding.
“He is an easy target, but is safe there – We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now. But we don’t want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers.
“Our patience is wearing thin. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
Israel-Iran live: Trump says US knows where Iran’s supreme leader is ‘hiding’
It was followed minutes later by “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!”
In real-time, we are witnessing Donald Trump’s extreme version of maximum pressure diplomacy.
He’d probably call it the ‘art of the deal’, but bunker busters are the tool, and it comes with such huge consequences, intended and unintended, known and unknown.
Read more:
The bunker buster bomb which could destroy Iran’s nuclear ambitions
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Nuclear sites targeted in Iran
There is intentional ambiguity in the president’s messaging. His assumption is that he can apply his ‘art of the deal’ strategy to a deeply ideological geopolitical challenge.
It’s all playing out publicly. Overnight, the New York Times, via two of its best-sourced reporters, had been told that Mr Trump is weighing whether to use B-2 aircraft to drop bunker-busting bombs on Iran’s underground nuclear facilities.
Meanwhile, Axios was reporting that a meeting is possible between Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi.
The reporting came just as Mr Trump warned “everyone in Tehran to evacuate”. The nuclear sites being threatened with bunker busters are not in Tehran, but Trump’s words are designed to stoke tension, to confuse and to apply intense pressure.
His actions are too. He left the G7 in Canada early and asked his teams to gather in the White House Situation Room.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Trump: ‘I want an end, not a ceasefire’
This is a game of smoke, mirrors, brinkmanship and – maybe – bluff. In Tehran, what’s left of the leadership is watching and reading closely as they consider what’s next.
Maybe the Supreme Leader and his regime’s days are numbered. Things remain very unpredictable.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
From history, though, regime change, even when it comes with a plan – and there is certainly not one here, spells civil war and from that comes a refugee crisis.
These are truly tense and chaotic times.
World
Ukraine war: 14 killed as Russian missile and drone attacks strike Kyiv – including American citizen
Russian missile and drone attacks have killed 14 people in Kyiv overnight, according to Ukrainian officials.
A 62-year-old US citizen who suffered shrapnel wounds is among the dead.
At least 99 others were wounded in strikes that hollowed out a residential building and destroyed dozens of apartments.
Pic: AP
Emergency workers were at the scene to rescue people from under the rubble.
Images show a firefighter was among those hurt, with injured residents evacuated from their homes.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the attack as “one of the most terrifying attacks on Kyiv” – and said Russian forces had fired 440 drones and 32 missiles as civilians slept in their homes.
“[Putin] wants the war to go on,” he said. “It is troubling when the powerful of this world turn a blind eye to it.”
Pic: AP
Ukraine’s interior minister, Ihor Klymenko, said 27 locations across the capital have been hit – including educational institutions and critical infrastructure.
He claimed the attack, in the early hours of Tuesday morning, was one of the largest on the capital since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022.
Drones swarmed over the city, with an air raid alert remaining in force for seven hours.
One person was killed and 17 others injured as a result of separate Russian drone strikes in the port city of Odesa.
Pic: Reuters
It comes as the G7 summit in Canada continues, which Ukraine’s leader is expected to attend.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to hold talks with Donald Trump – but the president has announced he is unexpectedly returning to Washington because of tensions in the Middle East.
Ukraine’s foreign minister says Moscow’s decision to attack Kyiv during the summit is a signal of disrespect to the US.
Moscow has launched a record number of drones and missiles in recent weeks, and says the attacks are in retaliation for a Ukrainian operation that targeted warplanes in airbases deep within Russian territory.
Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko says fires broke out in two of the city’s districts as a result of debris from drones shot down by the nation’s air defences.
Read more from Sky News:
New episodes of The Wargame podcast released
US-UK trade deal is ‘done’, Donald Trump says
Pic: AP
On X, Ukraine’s foreign ministry wrote: “Russia’s campaign of terror against civilians continues. Its war against Ukraine escalates with increased brutality.
“The only way to stop Russia is tighter pressure – through sanctions, more defence support for Ukraine, and limiting Russia’s ability to keep sowing war.”
Olena Lapyshnak, who lived in one of the destroyed buildings, said: “It’s horrible, it’s scary, in one moment there is no life. I can only curse the Russians, that’s all I can say. They shouldn’t exist in this world.”
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Sports2 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike