Morocco accused Algerian soldier of firing on civilians across their shared border.

Tension is high between Morocco and neighbouring Algeria following Morocco’s accusation that an Algerian soldier last Saturday, October 18 fired on a dozen of Moroccan  civilians across their shared border near the northeastern city of Oujda and seriously wounded one of them,  press reports say.   The wounded citizen was a 28-year-old man who was hit in the face by three bullets and “seriously wounded”.

In reaction, Algeria reportedly on Sunday, October 19 said Morocco was twisting the facts and summoned its envoy to express its “exasperation”. This came a day after Morocco’s Foreign Ministry summoned the Algerian ambassador to vigorously protest against the shooting and demand explanations, while the Interior Minister Mohamed Hassad said the soldier should be "brought to justice," a Moroccan news agency reported.   It described the shooting as "a grave incident" and "an irresponsible act that comes on top of other provocative acts along the border."

On October 19, the Algerian Foreign Ministry reportedly hit back, saying Rabat's allegations were "false". A government statement acknowledged that Algerian border guards had fired "two warning shots in the air" after coming under attack from "Moroccan smugglers who pelted them with stones". The statement further said, "The border guards  reacted professionally by firing two warning shots in the air which can in no way cause anyone to be injured." Algeria on its part also summoned Moroco’s Charge d’Affaires to complain about "recurrent accusations" from Rabat.