Chechen dead after fight in Austrian refugee camp

VIENNA, Aug 10 (Reuters) - One asylum seeker died and at least 14 others were injured in an inter-ethnic brawl that broke out in Austria's largest reception centre for refugees on Saturday night, police said on Sunday.

Almost 100 people were involved in the fight between Chechens and Moldavians living in the Traiskirchen camp, a delapidated former barracks south of Vienna that is now the overcrowded home of 1,000 people seeking asylum.

A 24-year-old Chechen man died from head injuries sustained during the fight, which started after noise complaints, a police spokesman said. It took more than 100 police officers to restore order and two men were arrested in connection with the death.

Immigration and the rising tide of asylum seekers are a thorny issue in Austria, the world's eighth richest country, which in a 1999 election gave populist Joerg Haider's anti-immigration ticket a quarter of the vote.

Recently the government tried to stem the flow of immigrants with radical measures such as evictions from state shelters, leaving refugees to choose between living on the street, a paid ticket home or the chance of a place in shelters set up by private charities.