Updated 9.06pm 

A man was killed and another two were injured in a drive-by shooting in Birżebbuġa on Saturday night.

The incident happened in Triq tal-Ġebel at around 11pm, with one of the injured men contacting police and reporting the shooting. 

All three victims are migrants who were walking when they were shot at by a man in a Toyota Starlet.

Sources said the victims were found spread out across a stretch of Triq tal-Ġebel, a country lane often used by migrants walking to and from the open centre in Ħal Far.

The fact that victims were not together has perplexed investigators, who are still trying to understand what motivated the murder. They have not excluded that it may have been a racially motivated attack.

The shooter is still on the run. The area where the men were shot is well covered by CCTV cameras. 

Identity confusion

On Sunday evening, the police said that the murdered man was a 42-year-old from the Ivory Coast and that they were still trying to confirm the identities of the two injured men.

One of them, a 22-year-old who lives in Ħal Far, was grievously hurt. The other was seriously injured in the shooting. On Sunday evening, the police said that their initial description of the second injured man as being 45 and from Georgia was mistaken, and he has yet to be identified. 

Both men are receiving treatment at Mater Dei Hospital. 

An inquiry is being held.

Only a week ago, a mother and her daughter were found shot dead and partially buried in a field.

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