Police in Papua New Guinea are trying to contain violence in a Lae suburb, which has claimed two lives in the past three days.
The newspaper, The National, reports that the fighting in the Sialum Compound started on Tuesday.
The Lae police operation commander, Timothy Pomoso, says the fighting between people from two Highlands tribes, has injured at least 17 people and several homes have been burned to the ground.
Security at the city's hospital has been ramped up because of the fighting, with only one person at a time allowed to visit the injured.
He says high-powered guns have been used in the clashes and one police vehicle was damaged after it was shot in the windscreen.
Mr Pomoso says extra police manpower is being sought to launch a full-scale operation to return law and order to the suburb.
