At least 48 people have been burned and hacked to death in ethnic clashes over cattle grazing rights in Kenya.

Gangs armed with machetes, bows, and spears locked villagers in their huts, set them alight and then butchered anyone who tried to escape.

Police said most of the dead were women and children.

They described it as the worst single attack since violence rocked the country after a contested election four years ago.

The raid was part of a long-running dispute between rival Pokomo and Orma groups in the village of Reketa, in Tarassa, in the southeast of the country.

Regional deputy police chief Joseph Kitur said 31 women, 11 children and six men were killed. Most had been hacked to death.

However, a Kenyan Red Cross official, who asked not to be named, said 59 people had been killed.

He said they had taken 40 people to hospital in Malindi town, 90 miles from the bloodshed.

“Many of the injured are women and children with severe burns. Eleven have deep cuts on their heads and other body parts,” the official added.

“I have counted seven with bullet wounds. We have tried to stabilise them, but honestly it will be a miracle if all of them arrive at hospital alive.”

Local government official Danson Mungatana said it was a “revenge attack” by Pokomo farmers on Orma cattle herders.

“There have been problems simmering for a while,” he said. “About 10 days ago three Pokomo were killed by the Orma community.”

In a separate incident in northeast Kenya, five people died after cattle rustlers attacked a village in Mandera near the border with Somalia and Ethiopia.

In 2007, Kenya spiralled into violence after contested elections that left some 1,200 people dead and 600,000 homeless.

Kenya Massacre:Revenge attack

Mr Kitur said that, according to investigations, the attack had been carried out by the Pokomo on the Orma.

Danson Mungatana, the lawmaker for the area, said the killings were the latest in a string of attacks and cattle raids and had been taken in retaliation for a previous incident.

“There have been problems simmering for a while,” he told.

Nairobi, says violence between the two communities is often reported, but not on such a huge scale.

Our reporter says there is long-standing enmity between the communities, who get caught up in a cycle of revenge killings over the theft of cattle and grazing and water rights.

In 2001, a series of clashes between the Orma and Pokomo left at least 130 dead in the same region.

The semi-arid region is one of the poorest in Kenya, with very little infrastructure or industry.

The government recently created a ministry to promote development in Kenya’s arid and semi-arid areas, but there has been little improvement in peoples’ lives, our reporter adds.

The violence comes as Kenya prepares for elections early next year. More than a 1,200 people were killed and 600,000 displaced in the months following the last election in 2007.