Guards injured in Australian riot

Rioting by illegal immigrants at a detention centre in Australia has left at least thirteen security guards injured.

Some eighty immigrants -- mainly from Iraq and Afghanistan -- reportedly went on a rampage at a centre at Woomera -- in the remote outback of South Australia -- after hearing rumours that they'd been refused asylum and were facing deportation.

They set fire to buildings, broke up furniture and threw stones.

Australian police fired tear gas and water cannon in response.

The centre -- a former rocket range -- houses about eight-hundred illegal immigrants.

There were similar protests there earlier this year. Correspondents say that over the past two years, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of illegal immigrants reaching the Australian coast by boat, particularly from the Middle East.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service