Oslo - Police were Friday investigating an attack on a refugee centre in south-eastern Norway where some 20 refugees were assaulted, police and local media reported.

Hospitals said Friday that the injured refugees were in stable condition.

The attack took place Thursday evening and several reports attributed the attack to rivalry between Chechen nationals and refugees of Kurdish background.

Ole Morten Lyng of the Valer refugee centre said the attack was conducted by some 40 to 50 Chechen nationals.

The assailants arrived in several vehicles, scaled the refugee centre's perimeter fence and used baseball bats and iron bars to beat refugees, he told broadcaster NRK. Some refugees were also stabbed.

Lyng said there had been some earlier incidents between refugees of Kurdish background and Chechens but "those events were more between individuals," he told the Aftenposten newspaper.

Windows and doors as well as furniture were smashed during the attack.

In 2005, police were called out to the refugee centre over a similar brawl. (dpa)