The authorities in Belgium have admitted that a two-year-old girl who died after police opened fire on a van carrying migrants near Mons on Thursday was shot in the face.

Prosecutors had initially denied the account given to the Guardian by relatives of the girl, called Mawda, suggesting instead that she had been taken ill or died as a result of erratic driving.



The child was killed after a police patrol followed and intercepted a van containing 26 adults and four children, including Mawda, on a highway near the city of Mons in the early hours of Thursday morning.

She was travelling with her Kurdish-Iraqi parents and three-year-old brother. A source told the Guardian that police opened fire in an effort to stop the vehicle, which was being driven by alleged people smugglers to a lorry park on the coast. From there, the refugees were to be smuggled onboard lorries destined for the UK.



However, a source had told the Guardian that police opened fire on the van in an effort to force it to stop. A bullet is alleged to have penetrated the vehicle and hit the girl in the cheek.

Following the gunfire, it is understood that officers surrounded the vehicle in a 45-minute standoff as they assessed the situation. Upon opening the doors of the van, the child’s mother screamed for help. An ambulance was called and took the child to a Mons hospital, where she was pronounced dead. It is believed, however, that Mawda died at the scene.

Frédéric Bariseau, a spokesman for the Tournai prosecutor’s office, confirmed on Friday afternoon that Mawda died as a result of a gunshot injury, but said he could not confirm the provenance of the bullet.

“The autopsy determined that the cause of death was a bullet that entered the cheek,” said Bariseau.

“I want to be careful about saying that the bullet could be of police origin. We have to assess the evidence.

“Police have opened an internal investigation to determine the circumstances of the girl’s death.”

The family of German-born Mawda have been placed in accommodation in Belgium. Photograph: Handout

In a statement released on Thursday, Bariseau had denied reports that the girl had been shot. “The little girl did not die as a result of police gunfire,” he said, suggesting several possible causes including illness, an accident inside the van caused by the driver’s behaviour, or a blow to the head.

Jan Jambon, Belgium’s interior minister, wrote on Twitter: “[a] tragic event with dramatic consequences. The investigation is ongoing.”

A source close to the family told the Guardian: “The family are worried that their daughter’s death will be covered up with no one being held to account. They have been told by the authorities that Mawda will be buried on Tuesday.

“Her family have been placed in accommodation in Belgium. However, they have been told that they have to decide whether they are seeking asylum in Belgium. They have until tomorrow to make up their minds, failing which they have to leave and might possibly be deported back to Germany, but this is unclear.

“Either way, authorities have stated that once they have ‘legally settled in a country’ they can claim Mawda’s body and have it transferred.”

The source alleged that the family had previously been smuggled to the UK but was deported to Germany last year by UK authorities since Mawda was born there, and is therefore a German national.



Zakia Khattabi, co-leader of the Belgian Green party, Mawda’s death was the result of an “increasingly repressive” migration policy. “I want to extend our sympathy to the victim and the victim’s family,” she said. “But after emotion comes anger. We demand that the spotlight is put on this case and that political responsibilities are taken.”

Belgium’s federal government has been criticised for its increasingly tough stance on migrants. Theo Francken, the country’s immigration minister, said last year that Europe must turn back boats carrying would-be migrants across the Mediterranean.

“Taking a ticket on a smuggler boat does not give you free entrance into the European continent,” said Francken, a member of the Flemish separatist N-VA, the largest party in the governing coalition.

Earlier this year, Francken drew criticism for deporting Sudanese migrants, several of whom later said they were tortured after being returned home.