3,000 policemen deployed in Algeria's Ghardaia after tribal clashes: source

A total of 3,000 policemen were mobilized on Monday to restore order in Algeria's southern province of Ghardaia, after tribal clashes which broke out on Friday left one killed and 55 others injured there, a local security source told Xinhua.

The riot police rushed to Ghardaia, about 600 km south of the capital Algiers, on Sunday night, to reinforce the 1,200 policemen already deployed in the scene of the clashes, said the source.

In addition, the Algerian government sent a fact-finding commission there to draw up a report about the clashes.

The tribal fighting first erupted more than a month ago, leaving a dozen of people injured. The elders of the two communities then reached a shaky truce under the mediation of the government.

However, after less than two weeks of relative calm, violence flared up again between the tribe of Chaamba (Arabs) and the Mozabites (Berbers) Friday in Ghardaia, during which swords and Molotov cocktails were used, according to witnesses.

In recent years, Ghardaia, with some 200,000 population, has been rattled by violent clashes between Mozabites and Chaamba tribes.