t least 42 people have been killed after armed clashes between rival communities in Eastern Chad, the country's Ministry of Public Security and Immigration said in a statement on Thursday.

The ministry said one village was torched in the clashes and 175 people have been arrested.

It did not say what caused the violence.

Local media reported that the clashes occurred Wednesday between the Mouro and Birgut communities in Quaddai Province in Wastern Chad.

Violence between farmers and nomadic herders is common in eastern Chad, and the situation has worsened in recent years with droughts and population growth.

In 2019, then President Idriss Deby Into said such violence had become a "national concern."