Two smugglers shot on Turkish-Greek border

GREECE - The Associated Press

A shootout between smugglers of illegal immigrants and Greek authorities on the Greek-Turkish border left two smugglers wounded, authorities said Friday. 

A patrol of Greek police and border guards from the European Union Frontex border protection agency came under fire shortly after midnight after spotting a group of smugglers who had transported 25 illegal immigrants in a rubber dingy across a river from neighboring Turkey, police said.

 Two of the three smugglers, a Turk and a Pakistani, were wounded, while one escaped back across the border to Turkey, authorities said. The two were being treated in a hospital, while the 25 migrants , 19 Bangladeshis and six Pakistanis, were detained. 

Struggling to cope with the number of illegal immigrants, Greece has enlisted the help of Frontex to patrol and monitor the border.

Smuggling,