Algerian media says new clashes between Arabs, Berbers leave 15 dead in southern Algeria

Hundreds of demonstrators of the Berber community stage a protest in front of a walled area where Algier's newspapers are headquartered in support of Berbers in the southern Ghardaia region where at least 22 people have died in ethnic unrest, in Algiers, Algeria, Wednesday, July 8, 2015. Authorities say ethnic clashes have left at least 22 people dead around Algeria's southern oasis city of Ghardaia, more than 600 kilometers (375 miles) south of Algiers, prompting the president to call an urgent security meeting. The Berbers and the Arabs in Ghardaia had for centuries lived together in harmony, but tensions started in late 2013 when a Berber shrine was vandalized. (AP Photo/Sidali Djarboub) (The Associated Press)

Hundreds of demonstrators of the Berber community stage a protest in front of a walled area where Algier's newspapers are headquartered in support of Berbers in the southern Ghardaia region where at least 22 people have died in ethnic unrest, in Algiers, Algeria, Wednesday, July 8, 2015. Authorities say ethnic clashes have left at least 22 people dead around Algeria's southern oasis city of Ghardaia, more than 600 kilometers (375 miles) south of Algiers, prompting the president to call an urgent security meeting. The Berbers and the Arabs in Ghardaia had for centuries lived together in harmony, but tensions started in late 2013 when a Berber shrine was vandalized. (AP Photo/Sidali Djarboub) (The Associated Press)

Hundreds of demonstrators of the Berber community stage a protest in front of a walled area where Algier's newspapers are headquartered in support of Berbers in the southern Ghardaia region where at least 22 people have died in ethnic unrest, in Algiers, Algeria, Wednesday, July 8, 2015. Authorities say ethnic clashes have left at least 22 people dead around Algeria's southern oasis city of Ghardaia, more than 600 kilometers (375 miles) south of Algiers, prompting the president to call an urgent security meeting. The Berbers and the Arabs in Ghardaia had for centuries lived together in harmony, but tensions started in late 2013 when a Berber shrine was vandalized. (AP Photo/Sidali Djarboub) (The Associated Press)

Algeria's official news agency says 15 people have been killed in overnight ethnic clashes around the southern region near the oasis city of Ghardaia.

Sometimes deadly confrontations between Arabs and Berbers have occurred regularly in the region last year and have spiked again at the beginning of July.

The APS news agency said 14 people died of injuries from "projectiles" in Guerrara, 120 kilometers (75 miles) northeast of Ghardaia, where a 15th person was fatally injured when hit by a rock to the head.

Three people had been killed in confrontations a day earlier, bringing the total 48-hour death toll to 18.