Clashes between two communities in eastern Chad have killed at least 42 people, the public security ministry said on Thursday, in a desert region of the vast Sahel country often hit by land disputes.

The ministry did not say exactly who was involved in the fighting or how long it went on, but the area regularly sees clashes between sedentary farmers and nomadic breeders, or other groups, over land.

The fighting led to the arrest of 175 people at the scene, where "a large part" of the village of Tileguey in Ouaddai Province was "set on fire by armed men", it said.