About 6,000 illegal migrants have entered Croatia from Bosnia and Herzegovina since the end of last year, the head of Bosnia and Herzegovina's service for aliens, Slobodan Ujic, said on Tuesday.

Of the 9,730 illegal migrants registered in that country, about 60 percent have left Bosnia across the Croatian border, he told the Bosnian Serb news agency Srna.

“Until today, 9,730 illegal migrants have entered Bosnia and Herzegovina, of whom 7,958 have stated their intention to ask for international protection, and not one of about 700 asylum requests has been approved so far,” Ujic said.

About 3,200 of those registered were Pakistani illegal migrants, while 1,590 were Syrian refugees and displaced persons, he added.

Around 1,200 Iranians have also entered Bosnia in recent months after Serbia waived visa requirements for Iranian nationals, Ujic said, adding that, upon arriving in Belgrade from Tehran, many of them discarded their IDs and tried to illegally enter Bosnia to continue their journey towards Western Europe.

“People are still trying to get to the European Union (through Bosnia), and the biggest pressure is in the Una-Sana Canton (in northwest Bosnia),” Ujic said, adding that Bosnia could not become a migrant hot spot.

“Bosnia needs a fast flow of people towards the European Union, but it shouldn’t build accommodation facilities, which financially it can’t do anyway,” Ujic said.

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