Deadly tribal fighting erupts in Kenya

At least 32 people have been killed and several wounded in an attack on a village in southeast Kenya, where deadly tribal violence erupted last summer, the Kenyan Red Cross has said.

“Unknown people raided Kipao village at dawn and unleashed terror,” a police officer said on Friday.

An earlier report had put the death toll at six.

Al Jazeera’s Nazanine Moshiri, reporting from Kenya’s Central Province, said the victims include at least five children, five women and 10 men. Some of the attackers were also reportedly killed.

Another 16 people were airlifted for treatment, she said.

In August and September more than 100 people were killed in violence between rival communities along the Tana river – the Orma who are herders and the Pokomo who are mainly farmers.

According to police sources, tensions between the two communities have risen in the past few days during a disarmament operation.

Aggrey Adoli, the Coast Provincial Police chief, confirmed the attack but declined to give a death toll.

“This is a remote and arid area,” Al Jazeera’s Moshiri said. “It’s part of the reason the two ethnic groups have clashed in the past.”

With elections set on March 2013, there are fears that the violence could spill over, she said.

“This violence is extremely worrying for Kenya right now,” Moshiri said.