Seventy-five people, including six policemen, were killed in separate tribal clashes in south Darfur on Friday, security officials and tribal sources said. Thirty-five members of al-Falata tribe died in fighting with the rival Habaniya tribe while 17 tribesmen were wounded in the clashes, a security official said. "Six policemen, including an officer, were killed while attempting to stop the tribal conflict," the official, adding that six other men who were not immediately identified were also killed in the clashes.
The official did not provide reasons for the clashes but said that the government in south Darfur had sent reinforcements earlier in the day to contain the violence.
In a separate incident, 28 members of the al-Gamir tribe were killed in an attack by unidentified gunmen on a village in the Ed al-Fursan region, tribal chief Othman Hashim told AFP. He did not provide further details.
The attackers used heavy weapons, the mayor of the town of Bram, Issa Mohamed Abdullah, was quoted as saying by the Sudanese state news agency.
According to the United Nations, 300,000 people have died and 2.2 million have been displaced in Darfur since rebels took up arms in 2003 against the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum complaining of marginalization.
But Sudan has put the death toll at 10,000 and denies accusations by the International Criminal Court that members of the Khartoum government orchestrated a campaign of genocide in Darfur.