An officer of Carabinieri military police on Wednesday shot dead a migrant who stabbed him at a tent camp in southern Italy, local media said.

The officer together with a colleague went to break up a fight between two migrants at the camp near the town of Rosarno, according to Corriere della Sera newspaper.

One of the two migrants, reportedly a Mali national named Sekine Traore, pulled out a knife and repeatedly hit the officer, injuring him in an eye and in an arm. The attack prompted the police officer to react and kill the 27-year-old.

The camp hosts hundreds of migrants engaged in seasonal orange picking in Calabria region, and the fight between the two migrants reportedly started after Traore's attempt to steal from the other migrant, also from Mali.

Local prosecutor Ottavio Sferlazza told ANSA news agency that the officer was set to be investigated, as is normal, for his action, which however could already be defined as "legitimate defense."

"According to our reconstruction based on the accounts of witnesses, the migrant initially showed an intimidating attitude against the officer which then turned aggressive, when he stabbed the officer in his face," the prosecutor was quoted by ANSA as saying.

Rosarno Mayor Giuseppe Ida commented however that the accident could have been avoided, and called on the government to give more support to local communities faced with the migrant crisis.

Italy is coping with growing flows of sea migrants from African and Middle Eastern countries, and police officers are deployed in many migrant-related issues, from search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean to handling migrants at borders and facing their protests. Endit

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