VIOLENT clashes over the weekend between Guinean soldiers and armed groups operating from across the country’s southern borders have left 77 people dead in the latest round of fighting that continues to bring misery to civilians and hundreds of thousands of refugees in the area. In the first incursion by armed groups an “alarming number” of fighters firing guns and wielding machetes burst into villages near Macenta, killing 67 people, including three Guinean soldiers. The second attack came at Farmoreya, when an armed group battled all day with Guinean troops, leaving 10 people dead and the police headquarters gutted by fire. Guinea accuses Liberia, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leonean Revolutionary United Front (RUF) fighters and rebel Guinean soldiers of deliberately creating turmoil in the border region. – AFP