Marines from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have shot and wounded a Zambian fisherman who was among five others that were allegedly fishing on that DRC's waters, a Zambian police spokesperson said Tuesday.

Zambia's Police Deputy Spokesperson Charity Chanda said police have since launched investigations into the circumstances which led to the shooting of the fisherman on Luapula River on Sunday afternoon.

"The men are suspected to have been fishing. The bullet went in through the cheek and came out through the throat," she said in the statement emailed to Xinhua.

The 32-year-old fisherman is currently admitted at a local health center.

But the victim, Webby Mambwe, said they were having a meal at a fishing camp when six Congolese soldiers approached them in a speed boat and attempted to grab the banana canoe they were using, according to Times of Zambia.

"They said they wanted the boat, but when we resisted, the Congolese, four of them armed, started firing in the air and one of them aimed at me," he said.

The fisherman said Congolese soldiers were in the habit of grabbing boats from Zambians so that they could sell them in their country.

There have been skirmishes between Zambian and DRC soldiers on the river which borders the two countries. In May this year, 20 Zambian fishermen were apprehended by Congolese marines for straying onto the Congolese side of the river.