The Moroccan navy opened fire on a boat transporting migrants from the North African country, wounding one of them, a military source said on Wednesday.
One of the Moroccan migrants suffered a gunshot wound to the shoulder in the overnight operation to intercept the vessel off the town of Larache, on Morocco's Atlantic coast.
The wounded migrant — a 16-year-old according to media reports — was transferred to a hospital in Tangier, a military source told AFP. The others aboard the boat, including men and women of various ages, were brought ashore and handed over to the security forces, the source said.
"The motorboat that was carrying 58 migrants hidden under tarpaulin made a hostile move which forced the coastguard to fire at the captain," said the source in Rabat who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The latest shooting was the second of its kind in two weeks. On September 25, a Moroccan naval patrol opened fire on a "go-fast" speedboat ferrying migrants to Spain, killing a 22-year-old student and wounding three other people.
The authorities said that shooting was in response to the boat's "hostile manoeuvres" and pointed out that the migrants were concealed under tarpaulin.