French authorities are struggling to cope with a huge surge in serious violence in the migrant camps of northern France, a senior security source has told GB News.
Shootings, stabbings and other serious violence are an almost daily occurrence in the camps around Dunkirk and Calais.
In the past few days alone, 10 migrants were shot, two fatally, in separate incidents at a huge migrant camp on the outskirts of Dunkirk.
Just yesterday, three migrants were pulled from a boat off the French coast and transferred to hospital with stab wounds.
A source told the People's Channel that much of the violence was linked to disputes between the well-established Kurdish people smuggling gangs and African migrants, who often attempt to storm small boats on French beaches without paying the people smugglers.
The source said: "These camps have always been pretty lawless, but what we're seeing now is deeply worrying.
"We're seeing Kurdish gangs going after the Sudanese and other African migrants to mete out punishment to those planning to storm the small boats without paying.
"It all stems from this increasingly common tactic by gangs of mainly African migrants, who storm the small boats as they're launching, forcing their way on board, often using weapons to intimidate the other migrants and steal their places.
"It was always going to come to a head, and that's exactly what we're seeing now. These camps are like a warzone at times."
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Migrants emerge from bushes on a beach in Gravelines, France, after French authorities had fired tear gas
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Just last Saturday, a Sudanese migrant was shot dead in the Loon Plage camp near Dunkirk and five others were wounded, after two migrants opened fire on their bivouac with handguns and a long-barreled weapon.
A woman and a small child were among those seriously injured in the shooting.
An AK47 assault rifle was later recovered by French police, and a 29-year-old Iraqi national was arrested, alongside a 16-year-old Afghan national, on suspicion of involvement in the shooting.
At the same camp, a day later, one migrant was shot in the head and died at the scene.
French authorities seen on a beach in Gravelines
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Home Office data shows cumulative total of migrants who have crossed Channel so far this year
HOME OFFICE/PA
Two other migrants were taken to hospital, one with a gunshot wound to the head. Another had a gunshot injury to his knee.
In the last few days, police have also responded to hammer attacks, stabbings and other serious assaults at migrant camps around Dunkirk and Calais, as well as violent attacks on French beaches.
It comes as French police appear to have adopted a more robust approach in dealing with migrants attempting to board small boats.
On Monday morning, officers used tear gas in an effort to disperse hundreds of migrants attempting to reach a boat near Dunkirk.
Migrants struggling to board a small boat bound for Britain
PA
The police launched multiple teargas canisters at the large group, as they waited in sand dunes next to the beach at Graveline.
Migrants of all ages, who made it to the sea, had to wait in waist-deep water for almost an hour before any of them were able to board the small boat.
Many others never made it to the water, raising their arms in surrender under a thick blanket of tear gas fired by the French Police Nationale.
But despite the apparent increase in law enforcement activity, by Tuesday lunchtime, around 300 small boat migrants had crossed illegally to the UK.
It takes the total number who have made the illegal crossing so far this year to more than 17,000.
That figure is 47 per cent ahead of the number who had crossed at this point last year, and comes as the Prime Minister admitted at the G7 summit overnight that the migrant crisis was "deteriorating".
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