DAMASCUS, June 6 (AFP) - 18h46 - Representatives of banned Kurdish parties met with Arab tribal chiefs in northeastern Syria Monday in a bid to calm sectarian tensions following bloody clashes over the weekend, a Kurdish leader said.A security force action in Qamishli Sunday to disperse Kurdish demonstrators angry at the abduction and murder of a leading Muslim cleric had "turned into Arab-Kurdish clashes", Kurdish Progressive Democrat Party leader Aziz Daud told AFP by telephone from the town.

Yakiti party leader Hassan Saleh said the situation in Qamishli remained tense after several demonstrators were wounded and dozens arrested.

Daud said 50 Kurdish-owned shops had been ransacked by militiamen during the clashes.

Qamishli has been on edge since deadly clashes in March last year pitted Kurdish protestors against security forces and Arab tribesmen.

The Syrian authorities said that 25 people were killed. Kurdish sources put the death toll as high as 40.

The latest violence followed the kidnapping and murder of popular local cleric Mohammed Maashuq Khaznawi.

The Syrian authorities said two people had already been detained in what it promised would be a full investigation.

But the fact that the death was first announced by underground Kurdish sources and only later confirmed by the government sparked widespread scepticism among Syria's Kurdish minority.

Syria's 1.5 million Kurds make up about nine percent of the population and are mainly concentrated in the north.

Some 200,000 have been denied Syrian citizenship, making it difficult for them to find work in the state-controlled economy.