REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, GHARDAIA -- Up to 21 people were killed and hundreds others injured in ethnic clashes between Berber and Arab communities in Algeria's southern province of Ghardaia, local sources told Xinhua Wednesday.

The clashes erupted when a group of unknown youngsters with knives and firearms assailed a private bus. The overnight clashes continued until dawn, a security source said.

Since December 2013, the province of Ghardaia has been hit by a series of violent ethnic clashes between the Chaamba community, of Arab origin, and Mozabite Berbers of the Muslim Ibadi sect, which claimed so far more than 35 lives.

A shaky calm was restored last January after the two sides reached a truce initiated by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. However, this shaky calm did not resist more than six month.

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