People beheaded, a village burned amid brutal violence in PNG province

Violent attacks on three remote villages in Papua New Guinea's (PNG) north has reportedly killed 26 people, including 16 children, while several people were forced to flee after attackers set fire to their homes, the United Nations said.

"I am horrified by the shocking eruption of deadly violence in Papua New Guinea, seemingly as the result of a dispute over land and lake ownership and user rights," UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk said in a statement released on Wednesday.

The death toll could rise to more than 50 as PNG authorities search for missing people, Mr Turk said.

Violent attacks on three remote villages in Papua New Guinea's (PNG) north has reportedly killed 26 people, including 16 children, while several people were forced to flee after attackers set fire to their homes, the United Nations said.

"I am horrified by the shocking eruption of deadly violence in Papua New Guinea, seemingly as the result of a dispute over land and lake ownership and user rights," UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk said in a statement released on Wednesday.

The death toll could rise to more than 50 as PNG authorities search for missing people, Mr Turk said.

In East Sepik, he told the ABC the police force has had a long-standing problem with command and control.

"The head of police here, for some reason, is constantly changing. It's a three-year contract, but they keep changing every six months, 12 months," he said.

"They removed our provincial police commander in January and there's no replacement even today."

Tribal warfare exacerbated Home to hundreds of tribes and languages, the Pacific nation to Australia's north has a long history of tribal warfare.

But an influx of mercenaries and automatic weapons has inflamed the cycle of violence.

During the past decade, villagers swapped bows and arrows for military rifles and elections deepened existing tribal divides.

At the same time, the country's population has more than doubled since 1980, placing increasing strain on land and resources, and stoking deepening tribal rivalries.

Eight people were killed and 30 homes torched in fighting in the Enga province in May, while at least 26 men were killed in an ambush in the same region in February.

[Source: abc/wire]