Deadly migrant rush ‘attack’ on territory: Spain

The Spanish prime minister on Saturday described a deadly migrant rush on the enclave of Melilla from Morocco as an attack on Spain's "territorial integrity", as human rights activists demanded an investigation.

At least 23 African migrants died in the latest drama on the doors of the European Union, when around 2,000 mostly sub-Saharan African migrants approached the Moroccan border with the tiny territory at dawn on Friday.

More than 500 people managed to enter a border control area after cutting a fence with shears, Melilla authorities said in a statement.

Moroccan officials on Friday said 18 migrants had died during the rush or succumbed to their injuries, some of which came from falling from the top of the barrier.

On Saturday, they revised the toll upwards to 23 after five of those injured died. More than 20 migrants and two security force personnel remain in hospital Saturday in the cities of Nador and nearby Oujda, they said.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said the incident was a "violent and organised attack by mafias who traffic in human beings, against a Spanish territory".

But Morocco's AMDH human rights group said it was "a true catastrophe that shows the consequences of the latest Moroccan-Spanish entente", just weeks after the two sides resolved a year-long diplomatic rift.