MANDERA, Kenya, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- At least seven people were killed and unknown others injured in retaliatory inter-clan clashes in Kenya's northeast county of Mandera early Tuesday, a regional government official said.
Mohamed Birik, northeastern regional commissioner, said the seven were killed in Banissa constituency when the locals in Shobtoy village attacked another group with machetes and guns.
Birik said security officers had collected seven bodies following the incident and that they had been informed four others were seriously wounded and were lying somewhere in a thicket.
"The anger spilled to Kenya where they have killed at least seven locals in retaliation. We have deployed more security personnel to ensure calmness and justice," he said.
Birik said the attack was a retaliation of another one that had happened in Ethiopia where two people were killed and 100 camels stolen. He said one clan attacked another one in the incident.
The administrator said the hostilities have been there for the past two weeks when the incident happened in a village in Ethiopia. Banissa constituency borders Ethiopia and local clans spread across the border in both countries.
He said more police officers have been deployed in the area and security teams were engaging village elders to diffuse any such fears.
The feuding pastoralist communities in Kenya's north where clashes have been occurring have easy access to illegal weapons since the regions are close to porous borders with neighboring countries that are either war-torn or are emerging from conflict.
