Fatality occurred when motorcyclist drove into the back of a lorry

One died and two seriously injured in police shoot-out in France

A motorcyclist died and two suspected people smugglers in a British registered car were seriously wounded by Belgian police today during a shoot-out on a packed motorway.

The drama unfolded on the A16, close to the French port of Dunkirk, after a high-speed chase that started across the border in Belgium.

A car being chased by officers reached speeds of up to 125mph, and became so badly damaged that it was travelling on its wheel rims.

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One person died and several were injured after a high-speed chase and shoot-out on the A16 motorway near the French-Belgian border when Belgian police pursued 'British people smugglers'

As they swerved in and out of traffic, there were a series of accidents, including one in which a motorcyclist crashed into the back of a lorry.

'The incident started soon after 5.30am,' said a local traffic police source.

'Belgian police were pursuing suspected people smugglers on the A16.

'Shots were fired, and the car being chased caused a huge pile-up of traffic. There were numerous injuries, and one fatality.'

Gunfire was heard by a number of witnesses before the car being chased was forced to a halt.

Two bullet holes can be seen in the back of the Audi reportedly driver by two British Iraqi men

Two men inside were seriously wounded and were immediately airlifted to hospital in nearby Lille.

'Both were hit by police bullets and immobilised, while two other men were arrested,' said another witness.

Police later suggested that the men in the Audi might be 'British-Iraqi' – migrants from Iraq with UK passports.

Officers were originally alerted to the maroon Audi A4 they were driving by a truck driver, who said he had been threatened with a knife by one of the suspects.

The truck driver said he had 17 migrant stowaways in his lorry, and that the men were involved in trying to get them to Britain.

A Belgian police source said officers were first alerted at 5.40am, following a relatively minor road traffic accident involving the Audi, during which a driver broke his leg.

The two wounded men were the alleged people smugglers who had been chased by Belgian police from across the border, and two others were arrested

The high-speed police chase caused a number of accidents, including one fatal incident when a motorcyclist crashed into the back of a lorry

It was 20 minutes later - at 6am - that officers started chasing the Audi, which had by now left the scene of the first accident.

The Belgian source insisted that gunfire had solely been used to stop the Audi, but sources in France said two of the men on board were hit by the gunfire.

There were at least three accidents related to the shoot-out, said the Belgian source, but 'work was still going on to try and work out how they were all related.'

The motorcyclist who died was Dutch, a police source added.

Gangs of people smugglers using high-speed cars registered in Britain can often be seen operating openly around migrant camps in northern France, especially around Dunkirk and Calais.

Police are powerless to arrest them, unless they can prove a crime, but surveillance operations are carried out constantly.

The people smugglers usually pay third parties to take the migrants to Britain, instead concentrating on collecting money and keeping the routes open.

The area of northern France where the accident happened is a notorious for gangs of people smugglers who arrange trips across the Channel to the UK for migrants sleeping rough in the area.

They charge up to £2,000-a-head, often smuggling their 'clients' in the back of lorries and vans.