Migrants are scrambling to reach Spain's north African territory Melilla at double the rate of last year, an official said Tuesday, speaking days after evidence of abuse by border guards sparked outrage.

The head of the Spanish government delegation in the territory Abdelmalik El Barkani said the number of attempts by desperate migrants to scale the seven-meter (23-foot), triple layer fence separating Melilla from Morocco had surged so far in 2014.

About 60 Africans scrambled over a border fence from Morocco into Spanish territory Monday, as a U.N. official urged Spain to protect migrants' rights following evidence of police abuse.

It was the latest in a string of attempts by desperate Africans trying to reach European soil by scaling the seven-meter (23-foot), triple-layer fence into the Spanish territory of Melilla, raising pressure on Spain's government.

Tensions flared Sunday between Algeria and Morocco after Rabat accused an Algerian soldier of firing on Moroccan civilians across their joint border and seriously wounding one of them.

Algeria charged on Sunday that Rabat was misrepresenting the facts a day after Morocco had summoned the Algerian ambassador to "vigorously protest" about the shooting.

About 300 African migrants stormed a border fence separating Morocco from the Spanish territory of Melilla on Wednesday, leaving at least 10 people injured, officials said.

It was the latest in a series of attempts by desperate migrants trying to reach European soil via the territory on Morocco's northern shore.

A teenaged Moroccan rapper is in juvenile detention on a variety of charges that include distorting the words of the national anthem, immorality and encouraging drug use, colleagues said Saturday.

Othman A, known as Mr. Crazy, was arrested August 9 and is being held in a juvenile facility in Casablanca, a city of five million people from whose poor neighborhoods he draws his inspiration.

A man jailed for three years on charges of impersonating Morocco's King Mohammed VI appealed on Thursday for a royal pardon, a newspaper reported.

"I call on the king to intervene and to kindly pardon me," Nabil Sbai, 30, told Akhbar Al-Youm from his prison cell.

The companion of a British tourist freed from Moroccan jail this week after being arrested with him for "homosexual acts" has also been released from custody, a rights group said Thursday.

Jamal Wald Nass, a Moroccan national in his 20s, "was released on bail on Wednesday pending his appeal judgement, which will not occur for several weeks," Omar Arbib, an official for the Moroccan Association of Human Rights, told Agence France Presse.

Dutch prosecutors on Thursday opened a criminal investigation into firebrand populist politician Geert Wilders over his campaign pledge to ensure there were "fewer Moroccans" in the country.

Wilders set off thousands of complaints after he promised his chanting supporters during campaigning in March municipal elections that he would arrange for there to be fewer Moroccans in the Netherlands.

A Moroccan consul in the South African capital Pretoria has been found dead in a pool of blood at his guesthouse, his embassy said Tuesday.

Police are still investigating how and why Fatmi Noureddine was killed. An autopsy is being carried out.

Spanish coastguards on Wednesday pulled the bodies of two African migrants from the sea off Morocco and six others were missing after a dinghy carrying them sank, rescuers said.

They were the latest of hundreds of migrants to die trying to reach Europe from African shores over recent years.