Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Thursday that he received initial information from the Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic on Croatian police wounding two migrant children on Wednesday evening in attempts to stop a van smuggling migrants over the border with Bosnia.

“The police is protecting our borders from illegal migrations. I regret children were shot, I think that is very bad, and I am certain that an investigation will show how that happened. I expect the police to continue protecting our border from those who smuggle people, in this case from Bosnia and Herzegovina,” Prime Minister said to the press.

He added he hoped there would be no more people getting wounded in these situations, but “as far as migrations are concerned, this will be a problem we will deal with for many years to come.”

State Attorney Drazen Jelenic expressed regret as well, telling the state-owned broadcaster HRT it was “certain events like this make the already stressful police job even more difficult.”

Late last night, the police attempted to stop a van carrying migrants who crossed the Bosnian-Croatian border in the Donji Lapac municipality. After unsuccessful attempts to stop the van, the police opened fire at the vehicle, injuring two 12 year old migrant children.

The driver jumped out of the van, and is still at large. The search for him continues.

There were 29 foreign nationals in the vehicle, from Iran and Afghanistan, seven of them with injuries from reckless driving.

The children were taken into the Zadar city Hospital, and they are in stable condition.

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