Poland will extend the implementation of a buffer zone on its border with Belarus for 90 days, the interior ministry said on Tuesday, adding that the measure had been effective in reducing illegal migration, Paralel.Az reports citing Reuters.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk's pro-European coalition government reintroduced a no-go zone on a 60-kilometre (37 mile) stretch of the border in June after a surge in attempts by migrants to cross and a string of violent incidents, one of which resulted in a soldier being killed.

The border has been a flashpoint since migrants started flocking there in 2021, after Belarus, a close Russian ally, reportedly opened travel agencies in the Middle East to offer a new unofficial route into Europe - a move the European Union said was designed to create a crisis.

"The zone has brought concrete, positive results," Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak said in a statement. "It is primarily aimed at people smugglers who pick up people who are smuggled across the border."