A Moroccan woman has died and three other people were left wounded after the country's navy opened fire at a speedboat carrying migrants.

The Moroccan interior ministry said in a statement on Tuesday that a naval unit operating in the Mediterranean was "forced" to fire on the boat because its Spanish driver "refused to obey" orders.

The incident happened off the Moroccan locality of M'diq-Fnideq, official news agency MAP reported.

The woman who succumbed to her injuries in hospital was 22 years old and the three wounded - one in a critical condition with an amputated arm - were also Moroccans, Mohamed Benaissa, head of the Northern Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP news agency.

The Spanish driver of the boat was unharmed and later arrested, he said.

A total of 25 people were on the boat, including the people traffickers who were Spanish nationals, Benaissa added.

According to the interior ministry, the boat, which has been seized and an investigation opened, was illegally transporting migrants.

It was the second time in recent days that Morocco's royal navy intervened to stop a boat suspected of carrying migrants across the Mediterranean, and comes amid growing concerns about migrant trafficking in the western Mediterranean region. (Aljazeera)