NAIROBI: Fighting in a southern Ethiopian border town has killed at least nine people over the past few days, an official at a local hospital said, while a Kenyan official said at least 2,500 people had fled into Kenya.
Local residents say the fighting in the Ethiopian town of Moyale, which sits opposite a Kenyan settlement of the same name, erupted on Wednesday after clashes between the Oromo and Somali ethnic groups.
Gunfire could still be heard on Friday, they said.
The official at the Moyale hospital on the Ethiopian side of the border told Reuters that about 30 injured people had been brought to the hospital over the past few days, mostly injured by “heavy weapons.”
Of those injured, four died on Thursday and five on Friday, the official said, asking not to be named.
Images on social media verified by Reuters showed a bulldozer burning at a nearby petrol station and people toppling fuel-dispensing equipment.
Stanley Kamande, the county commissioner of Marsabit on the Kenyan side of the border, said at least 2,500 displaced people from Ethiopia were staying in the Kenyan town of Moyale.
A Kenyan police report seen by Reuters said a stray bullet had lodged in the neck of a local woman in Moyale.
The bullet was removed, and she is now in a stable condition, the report said.