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Drug gunmen kill teen, wound 11-year-old in France

20 November 2010 21:26 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Men armed with AK 47 assault rifles have killed a 16-year-old boy and wounded an 11-year-old in two separate drive-by shootings in Marseille, with police saying the incidents were likely drug-related, APA reports quoting â€œReutersâ€.
Franceâ€™s second largest city has been hit by a wave of narcotics crimes and the latest murder puts the number killed in drugs-related attacks to 18 this year.
The shootings took place late on Friday in the port cityâ€™s poor northern suburb of Le Clos de la Rose when gunmen in two cars opened fire with Kalashnikovs on the 16-year-old, who later died in hospital, authorities said.
The gunmen then opened fire on the 11-year-old boy at the entrance to an apartment building, in the company of his 14-year-old sister, who escaped unharmed. Doctors said the boyâ€™s condition was serious but he was not in immediate danger.
"There is a definite deterioration in the situation," public prosecutor Jacques Dallest told a news conference. "It is the first time they have targeted such a young minor."
"Even if there is no clear motive, these well-organized and violent executions are based on drug trafficking," he said.
Authorities said the 16-year-old had a police record, but there was no evidence the 11-year-old had worked for drug gangs. Police found three Kalashnikov rifles inside the cars, burned and abandoned beside the road from Marseille to Aix-en-Provence.
Officials said the rifles, which arrive by ship from Eastern Europe, were being sold cheaply and were widely available in Marseille.