Tribal row over land dispute in Tunisia sends 78 to hospital

Weapons were used in the clashes, Sami El Ghabi said, noting that one of the injured was in a serious condition.

"The two tribes used hunting rifles, stones and blunt objects, requiring police to intervene and use tear gas to disperse them and end the violence," Sami El Ghabi told AFP.

He said 78 people were hospitalised in Kebili and another in a serious condition was transferred to a facility in Sfax city.

Regional health chief, Hedi Ben Slimane told private radio station Mosaique FM that 10 people had suffered buckshot wounds.

Differences over land between the two tribes, dating back all the way back to independence from France in 1956, degenerated into violence on Thursday, El Ghabi said.

Six years since a revolution that toppled longtime dictator, Ben Ali, Tunisia has not been able to resolve issues of security, poverty, unemployment and corruption that sparked the uprising.

In late May, the governor of Tunisia's southern Tataouine province, which has recently seen escalating protests, abruptly announced his resignation after a protester was killed during clashes between protesters and security forces.