CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Police in Papua New Guinea opened fire after hundreds of men pushed down the perimeter fence and broke out of an Australian-run detention camp for asylum seekers during a violent protest in which one inmate was killed and scores were injured, an Australian official said.

Papua New Guinea is one of two South Pacific nations where Australia operates camps to house thousands of asylum seekers, mostly from war-torn countries in the Middle East, who have tried to enter the country illegally after dangerous sea journeys from Indonesia. Australia intercepts them at sea and sends them to camps at Manus Island or the tiny Pacific atoll nation of Nauru while their refugee claims are evaluated for resettlement in those countries.