At least eight people were killed in armed clashes in southern Iraq on Wednesday when arguments over the ownership of agricultural land turned deadly, officials said.

The fighting broke out in Maysan province, with the violence centred on a village about 70 kilometres south of the provincial capital Amara.

Mohammed Al Saray, a forensics department official in Amara, told AFP that eight people had died and a dozen others had been wounded, including women and children.

A security source said one group had "taken over state-owned agricultural land" and relatives from the same tribe were "demanding an equal share".

Tribes are powerful actors in Iraq, where state institutions have been weakened by decades of war. This is particularly the case in the oil-rich south, where they have their own moral and judicial codes as well as huge caches of arms.

In Maysan, a province bordering Iran, drug trafficking, tribal disputes and political score-settling have combined into a toxic mix.

Violence is commonplace and police and judicial officials have been regular targets of assassination attempts.

On Monday, police announced a "joint security operation" with the army in Maysan to find those behind the assassination of a tribal chief, Sheikh Mohamed Al Faysali, who was killed outside his home.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi visited Maysan in February after the assassinations of two provincial officials in less than a week.

The National