At least 36 people were killed and 30 more injured in Somalia at the weekend as two clans fought for control of a border town, Kenyan media reported Monday.

According to the local newspaper Daily Nation, the fight between the Marehan and the Garre clans is said to be for control of the of Bura Hache town, which is less than four km from the Kenyan border, mostly inhabited by the Garre clan.

Unconfirmed reports indicated that Garre militiamen were training on the Somalia side of the border when the Marehan attacked them to drive them out of the town.

The Garre are also fighting the Murule clan of Mandera town on the Kenyan side over water and pasture.

The skirmishes between the Garre and Murule have left more than60 people dead and several more injured in less than three months of fighting.

In a meeting to resolve differences between Somali members of parliament at a hotel in Nairobi, Somali President Abdullahi Ahmed Yusuf condemned the attacks and asked the Kenyan government to step up security at the border.

The survivors of the attack were being treated at a health center in Kenya.

Several families are reported to have crossed into Kenya with their livestock to escape the fighting, while those on the Kenyan side of the border are reported to have moved deeper into Kenya to flee the fighting.

Kenya's North Eastern Provincial Commissioner Abdul Mwaserrah said on Sunday that Kenyan security forces stationed on the border with Somalia were placed on high alert following the fighting, which he said lasted for six hours.

The provincial commissioner said one group that attempted to cross into Kenya was repulsed by the security forces.

Source: Xinhua