An Afghan man trying to make his way from Turkey into Bulgaria near the southeastern Bulgarian town of Sredets was shot and killed late on Thursday, Agence France-Presse reports.

According to an interior ministry spokeswoman—for which country is not specified—said, “A big group of illegal migrants attempted to enter Bulgaria from Turkey. One man suffered a gunshot wound in the incident and died on the way to hospital.”

From AFP:

Public BNR radio cited ministry sources as saying that the group of 48 illegal migrants from Afghanistan was armed and aggressive and refused to obey an order by the Bulgarian border guards to stop and turn back.

The man was either wounded by a ricochet when police fired warning shots in the air or he was directly shot at, the radio said.

The ministry has not confirmed the report.

Photo credit: AP Images. Contact the author of this post: brendan.oconnor@gawker.com.