GAUHATI: Police say India’s army has moved in to stop armed clashes between rival groups that have killed at least nine people in India’s northeast.

The battles between the ethnic Bodo community and Muslim settlers have also injured at least 10 people.

SN Singh, a police inspector-general, says the clashes in Assam state began Friday after assailants killed one person in Kokrajhar district, nearly 250 kilometers west of Gauhati, the state capital.

He said Sunday that clashes spread to more than half a dozen villages in the region, nearly 7,000 people fled their homes and took refuge in state-run relief camps.

Animosity between Bodos and Muslim migrants stems from long-standing land disputes. They have clashed sporadically since 1990s.