At least 15 killed in grenade attack in northern Kenya

At least 15 people werekilled in a grenade attack on Sunday in a remote village innorthern Kenya where low-key clan clashes have displacedhundreds of people in the past week, the Kenya Red Cross andlocal officials said.

Pastoralist communities in northern Kenya have long wrangledover the control of highly valuable grazing land.

But the fighting, in which more than 20 villagers have beenkilled in the past two days in Mandera county, near the eastAfrican nation's frontier with Ethiopia and Somalia, has markedan escalation in tension.

Residents say the political class in the area are using clanmilitia to jostle for top positions in the local administrationand to settle old scores.

The epicentre of the fighting is located about 800 km fromthe capital Nairobi.

"The attackers fled towards Ethiopia but they are beingpursued," said Mandera county commissioner Michael Tailel, ofthe militia who attacked Joroqo village in Mandera county.

The Kenya Red Cross said on its Twitter feed that 15 peoplehad been killed in the grenade attack and seven others were incritical condition.

Local media reported that Kenya's Inspector General ofpolice David Kimaiyo had summoned leaders from Mandera and thenearby Wajir county to record statements on the attacks, sayingthe violence was politically instigated.

Although Kenya has sent in extra Kenyan security forces tothe region in the past few weeks, the officers have struggled tokeep peace due to the vast, harsh terrain in the region.

Residents in the remote area rely on vigilante groups forsecurity. Many homesteads have weapons to deter invaders, whileherders often carry guns to protect their animals because thereis barely any police presence.

The region is also awash with guns due to its proximity tounstable neighbours such as Somalia, where al Qaeda-linkedmilitants have been fighting to topple the government.

Kenya's north also borders Ethiopia, where the armed OromoLiberation Front has made sporadic incursions into the country.

Hundreds of residents from the attacked village begunfleeing their homes after the attack, aid workers said.

"More than 20 people have lost their lives, hundreds arefleeing their homes, the police and the military are justwatching, they are doing nothing," Ibrahim Issack, a resident ofMandera, near the village hit by the grenade said.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.