A spokesman for the Defence ministry is claiming that Spanish troops were not responsible for shooting dead a Haitian protester on the border with the Dominican Republic, and insist that the fatal shot was fired by a local immigration officer.

Earlier this morning, the Reuters news agency had reported that Spanish troops on a UN peacekeeping mission had opened fire on an angry crowd of Haitian protesters, who were trying to cross the border into the Dominican Republican border in protest at the deaths of 24 of their compatriots, who died of carbon monoxide poisoning in the back of a truck as they were trying to cross the border illegally.

The Defence ministry has since issued a contradictory statement, affirming that Spanish troops had only fired warning shots over the heads of the protesters, and that a Haitian immigration officer was responsible  for the man's death.

According to Defence ministry sources, UN troops had been attacked and had rocks thrown at them by those taking part in the protest, which seems to have been organised by organised criminal gangs dedicated to the trafficking of illegal immigrants.

The chief of staff of the Dominican Republic Armed Forces, General Rafael Radhames Ramírez Ferreiras, said that he understood that two protesters had been killed, and confirmed that seven others, including two UN soldiers, had been injured.

Neither of the injured UN troops is Spanish.