Police probe death at Swedish refugee center

One person was killed and three more wounded during the incident in the small town of Ljusne, some 240 kilometers (150 miles) north of Stockholm, police said Sunday.

The authorities have detained a suspect and launched a "preliminary investigation for murder and attempted murder," according to the statement.

The police did not specify if the victim was a migrant or an employee of the refugee center. However, local media reports indicated that no center staff had been harmed.

Police spokesman Christer Nordstrom described the injuries to the murder victim as cuts or stab wounds and added that about 15 people were involved in the brawl. The murder suspect is a man in his early 20s, according to Nordstrom.

The reasons for the clash were not immediately made known.

'Cramped conditions'

The incident in Ljusne comes only weeks after a 22-year old woman was stabbed to death in an asylum center, presumably by a young migrant.

On Sunday, Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven urged measures to ease tensions.

"We need to ensure security in the refugee centers," he told the Swedish news agency TT.

"One of the problems is that they are living in cramped conditions. Idleness is another issue and we want to work more closely with educational bodies and even sports federations so they can keep positively occupied while they wait (for asylum requests to be processed)," Lofven said.

Sweden, which has a population of 9.7 million, received 163,000 asylum applications last year.

dj/jm (AFP, AP, Reuters)