Clashes between rival groups in Sudan’s Darfur killed at least 160 people on Sunday, an aid group said, in the latest bout of deadly violence to hit the restive region.
Darfur, which was ravaged by the 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, the Daily Star reported.
The latest 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.
He said 160 people were killed on Sunday and at least 46 others wounded, voicing fears that the death toll could rise as fighting was still ongoing.
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.
On Sunday, a tribal leader from the Massalit minority described seeing multiple bodies in villages of the Krink region, which lies some 80km from West Darfur’s provincial capital, Geneina.
The International Committee of the Red Cross called on authorities to ensure the safe arrival of the wounded to hospitals.