Ethnic minorities in Bangladesh’s southern hilly region are living in fear after clashes in which four people were killed and dozens wounded, police and witnesses said on Saturday.

Ethnic tensions have escalated in the southeastern Khagrachari district of Bangladesh’s Chittagong Hill Tracts, where clashes between Indigenous Chakma and Bengali residents have left at least four people dead and dozens injured.

Bangladesh’s interim government appealed for calm after at least four people died in clashes between rival groups in the southeastern region bordering India and Myanmar.

The violence was sparked by the lynching of a Bengali man, triggering retaliatory attacks and protests calling for justice.