The Kenyan government on Sunday beefed up security in northern part of the East African nation following inter-ethnic clashes in the border town of Moyale.

Joint security forces comprising of Kenya Army, paramilitary and regular police are mounting security operation to flush out the militias in Moyale town to restore peace and order in the region.

Marsabit County Commissioner Isaiah Nakoru said on Sunday that the joint security operation will help restore peace and order in the areas and avert further clashes.

He said the security agents will use choppers and other military tactics to mount operation while hundreds of the officers will carry out ground attack to force the militias out of the region.

"The situation is now under control as the security forces battle out with the militias in the key spots in the region," Nakoru told Xinhua on Sunday.

Nakoru said the government was working with the humanitarian agencies to establish the actual number of those displaced in the conflict. He said hundreds of families especially in Butiye and Arosa have fled their homes following Saturday attack.

"It has proved to be difficult to ascertain the number of people killed and those injured in the incidents because both the militias fled with their victims," the government administrator said.

He said additional security officers were on Sunday deployed to areas in Arosa, Gurumesa and Butiye where they were mounting heavy security operation to flush out the militias and stop further inter-clan clashes.

The security officers were also patrolling the Isiolo-Moyale highway by keeping vigil a cross the region.

Renewed clashes between the Gabra, Burji and Borana communities had left the busy Moyale town deserted with youths taking advantage of the situation by looting properties.

Isiolo-Moyale road was still a no go zone for the vehicles as trucks and buses owners plying the routes shun the road for fear of attack.

A resident Mohamed Oba said inter-clan clashes between Borana and Gabra and Burji on one side had caused havoc in the region, interrupting normal business between the warring communities.

He said the situation worsened when the militias resorted to hijacking, burning and looting vehicles to paralyze movement of passengers and goods in their own areas.

"We don't know when these clashes will be contained," he told Xinhua, adding that several people have been displaced and others injured.

Oba said the conflict was as a result of the last general election where a group of communities formed an alliance to lock out the majority out of the devolved system of governance.

Already the government has warned local politicians in the region against fueling the conflict that had caused havoc in the area.

The Borana, Burji and Gabra communities have been feuding since 2011, mostly over control of resources such as water and grazing land but the conflict has also been linked to politics.

Livestock herding is the main livelihood and source of income in northern and some parts of eastern Kenya, and the hike in cattle thefts threatens to ignite cross-community reprisals and raids that could set the stage for a surge in ethnic fighting in the region.

Settled Kenyan communities that live in regions bordering the pastoral areas of northeastern and eastern Kenya have complained that cattle rustling incidents are surging during drought periods.