Originally published on February 19, 2014

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Clashes late Monday (February 17) at a detention center for Australia asylum seekers on Papua New Guinea's Manus Island have left one person dead and 77 injured.

Australia's Immigration Minister said on Tuesday (February 18) that the riot began as detainees attempted to break out of the facility used to process asylum seekers hoping to settle in Australia.

The incident is the second this week at the detention center on Manus Island, a site holding over 1000 asylum seekers.

One asylum seeker was killed by gunfire in the clashes, while 77 people were injured. Another individual was shot in the buttocks and is being treated in hospital.

The facility on Manus Island is part of Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbot's policy of diverting asylum seekers from traveling to Australia by boat.

Australian government vessels now escort boats of asylum seekers to facilities in Papua New Guinea after a campaign pledge by Abbot that no one arriving by boat will be granted asylum.

Human rights groups, including Amnesty International, are critical of conditions at the processing camp and Reuters reports that an advocate for the detainees disputed the government's claims about the riot, saying it was sparked by Manus Island residents and police attacking the refugee camp.

Reuters reports, however, that the British outsourcing giant G4S, the firm responsible for security at the facility, claimed no local villagers were involved, saying in a statement, "Claims that the transferees breached the fence following internal attacks on them by local residents are unfounded."

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