Renewed tribal clashes in Sudan's Darfur kill 168: Aid group
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Khartoum, Sudan: In one of the deadliest bouts of violence in the country in recent years, tribal clashes between Arabs and non-Arabs in Sudan's war-ravaged Darfur region Sunday killed 168 people, a local aid group said.
The fighting erupted on Friday in the Krink region of West Darfur, said Adam Regal, spokesman for the General Coordination for Refugees and Displaced in Darfur, an independent aid group.
"At least 168 people were killed on Sunday and 98 wounded," said Regal, voicing fears that the death count could rise.
The violence broke out when armed tribesmen attacked villages of the non-Arab Massalit minority in retaliation for the killing of two tribesmen, the aid group said.
At least eight people were killed on Friday, it added.
Darfur, which was ravaged by a civil war that erupted in 2003, has seen a spike in a deadly conflict since October last year triggered by disputes mainly over land, livestock, and access to water and grazing.
On Sunday, a tribal leader from the Massalit minority described seeing multiple bodies in villages of the Krink region, which lies some 80 kilometres (50 miles) from West Darfur's provincial capital, Geneina.
Medics from the Central Committee of Sudan Doctors warned of "catastrophic" health conditions in West Darfur, saying that several hospitals were attacked in the violence.
The International Committee of the Red Cross called on authorities to ensure the safe arrival of the wounded to hospitals.
The United Nations special representative Volker Perthes condemned the killings and called for a probe.
Images posted online on Sunday showed burning houses sending plumes of thick black smoke to the sky, while others showed round patches of scorched earth where huts had stood before they were set alight.
AFP could not independently verify the authenticity of the images.
On Sunday, the aid group accused the Arab Janjaweed militiamen of orchestrating the latest attack
In recent months, scores of people have been killed and hundreds of houses torched in several bouts of violence in Darfur, according to the UN and medics.
The latest violence has reflected a broader security breakdown in Darfur following last year's military coup led by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, that derailed a transition to full civilian rule following Bashir's ouster.