At least 10 killed in Guinea ethnic violence

CONAKRY: At least 10 people were burned alive or hacked to death with machetes during a second day of ethnic violence in the west African state of Guinea, officials said Tuesday.

More than 60 people have also been wounded as security forces proved unable to prevent the fighting spreading.

The bloodshed initially broke out in the southern forest region early on Monday when petrol station guards from the Guerze tribe in the town of Koule accused a young ethnic Konianke male of stealing.

The youth was subsequently tortured and beaten to death.

Fighting has now spread to the nearby provincial capital N'Zerekore, 570 kilometres (350 miles) southeast of Conakry, leaving several homes destroyed.

"There are at least 10 dead, including two this morning and three last night," said Francois Lamah, a doctor from N'Zerekore, adding that over 60 people had been wounded.

Lamah said hospital workers had not yet begun to establish an accurate death toll, as so many had been killed.

"Some were burned alive while others were cut with machetes. We are not able to manage. This situation is beyond us," he added.

A state radio correspondent in N'Zerekore said it was unlikely that an accurate death toll would be established as the bodies of many attacked by machetes had not been sent to hospital.

Security forces deployed to break up the fighting on Monday have been unable to restore calm despite a curfew imposed by N'Zerekore prefect Aboubacar Mbop Camara, who appealed for reinforcements.

A security source said the government had dispatched two of its top army colonels -- the director of the national organised crime agency and the head of President Alpha Conde's security -- to restore order.

The men come from the region and are members of the two opposing tribes.

A number of witnesses told AFP Guerzes and Koniankes were attacking one another with machetes, axes, sticks, stones and firearms, setting fire to houses and cars.

Guerze chief Molou Holamou Azaly Zogbelemou was among those wounded and taken to hospital, Camara told AFP.

"The Konianke protesters also set fire to his home and his car," he added.

Communal violence is common in the region, near the border with Liberia, where clashes between the two tribes regularly break out over religious and other grievances.

The indigenous Guerze are mostly Christian or animist, while the Konianke -- seen as newcomers -- are Muslims considered to be close to Liberia's Mandingo ethnic community.

In Liberia's civil war, which ended in 2003, rebels fighting the forces of then president Charles Taylor drew much of their support from the Mandingo community.

The Guerze, known as Kpelle in Liberia, were generally considered to be supporters of forces loyal to Taylor, who was jailed last year for "aiding and abetting" war crimes in neighbouring Sierra Leone.

"We're going to be done this time with the Konianke who invaded us and beat and burned the home of the patriarch of the town and Guerze spiritual guide Azaly Zogbelemou," a resident of N'Zerekore told AFP.

"It will be worse than 1991," he added.

That year clashes between the two communities left more than 200 dead. (AFP)