Bikers brawl through Australian airport; 1 dead

updated 1:03 p.m. ET March 22, 2009

SYDNEY - Warring bikers brawled through Australia's largest airport Sunday, beating one suspected gang member to death and brandishing metal poles "like swords" as they rampaged through the main domestic terminal in front of terrified travelers.

Police said a group of suspected gang members was ambushed as they disembarked from an airplane.

"A fight ensued, the fight moved through various parts of the terminal," said Police Detective Inspector Peter Williams. He said 15 men were involved in the violence, which rampaged from the ground floor up one level to the departures hall before most of the men fled.

Williams said one man died in a hospital from head injuries after the brawl, which appeared to bear out warnings of an impending biker war in Sydney.

"They came running through picking up the big metal barrier poles and swinging them like swords at each other," witness Naomi Constantine told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

"I saw one of the men lying on the ground and another man came up with a pole and just started smashing it into his head," she said.

Four men were arrested, Williams said. The others escaped, some of them by hailing taxis, local media reported. No charges were immediately laid.

Police did not identify the gangs suspected in the violence.

Authorities fear a gang war is brewing in Sydney following string of drive-by shootings and an explosion last month outside a fortified Hell's Angel's clubhouse.

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