Austrian far right leader Joerg Haider killed in car crash

Vienna: Austrian far right leader Joerg Haider was killed in a car crash on Saturday, the national news agency APA reported.

Haider died after suffering severe head and chest injuries when a car he was driving went out of control and rolled over several times outside the southern city of Klagenfurt.

APA said he was alone in the car.

Haider joined politics in 1977 and made headlines by campaigning on an anti-immigration ticket and with verbal gaffes.

Haider was also widely condemned for meeting Iraq's Saddam Hussain in 2002, which he said was a "purely humanitarian" matter.