French migrant camp burned to the ground after night of clashes between residents

A huge fire has razed a sprawling migrant camp in northern France overnight, sending residents running for their lives and reducing their makeshift homes to a "heap of ashes".

At least ten people were injured in the blaze at the sprawling Grande-Synthe encampment just outside the northern French city of Dunkirk.

It had been home to at least 1,500 people living in closely-packed wooden huts.

Residents and local officials reported that the fire had been started after fights between Kurdish and Afghan nationals.

"There is nothing left but a heap of ashes," Michel Lalande, prefect of France's Nord region, told reporters at the scene as firefighters continued to battle the flames.

"It will be impossible to put the huts back where they were before."

Six people were reported to have suffered knife wounds in clashes between residents in the encampment.

One man who had been living at Grande-Synthe said he had lost everything in the fire.

"We are refugees here in France; we don’t have any place," he said. "I lost all my documents, I have only this paper that says I’m a refugee."

French officials had recently announced plans to start dismantling the camp, which has swelled in size after the infamous 'Jungle' in Calais was torn down.

There have been several violent incidents at Grande-Synthe, with police intervening last month after five men were injured in a fight. Another man was stabbed in November.