Greece: Investigation ongoing into shooting that injured border guard

The incident occurred around 6:20 p.m. on Saturday when unknown assailants from the Turkish side opened fire on the 54-year-old and other Greek border guards conducting a patrol to prevent the illegal entry of migrants from Turkey into Greece.

“The colleagues were on a scheduled patrol. We don’t know who fired at them,” said Chrysovalantis Yalamas, president of the Evros border guards, speaking to Kathimerini.

According to Yalamas, the injured border guard is 54 years old and one of the most experienced in the service. He said that the guard has come out of surgery and is out of danger.

“We still don’t know how to explain it,” he said, referring to the incident, noting that such incidents had occurred in the past but not recently. “For the past year, these incidents had stopped, and the flow of migrants had decreased. It was a calm summer.”

Finally, he mentioned that this incident highlighted how dangerous the job of a border guard is. -ekathimerini

The Police announcement in detail: 

“Today, Saturday, July 20, 2024, at around 6:20 p.m. in a remote area of ​​Soufli Evros, Greek border guards who were patrolling the area and during an operation to prevent the illegal entry of immigrants from Turkey into our country, were shot by unknown persons located on the Turkish side. A Greek border guard was injured by the shots, who was immediately taken to Didymoteicho hospital for first aid. The whole incident is being investigated by the competent Greek authorities.” -photo: Proto Thema/ ERT news