Tribal fight in Papua New Guinea kills 11

Sydney

Eleven people have been killed and "many" injured in a fight between two warring tribes in a remote Papua New Guinea jungle, reports said Thursday.

Among the dead were two children and a heavily-pregnant woman, the PNG Post-Courier said, with high-powered guns used to attack jungle villages only accessible by helicopter in the Pacific nation's west. 

The National newspaper said "many others" were injured.

Western Highlands police commander Superintendent Martin Lakari told local media that authorities were struggling to stop the slaughter among the Kukurin and Yapetalin tribes because it was such an isolated area.

"I'm bringing this bloody tribal fight to the attention of the general public because it is taking place in a very remote part of our country which is only accessible by helicopter and nothing is being done to stop the loss of innocent lives," he said.

"That is why law enforcing agencies have not done much and now the fighting has reached Western Highlands where the Kokowa primary school and health centre in the Ruti Ukuni Maiwa area of Baiyer district have been completely destroyed."

The National said the Kukurin tribe retaliated after five of their members were killed in June, killing six from the Yapetalin tribe.