Summary More than 500 members of an Arab tribe were killed in Darfur region during seven weeks of clashes.
KHARTOUM (AFP) - More than 500 members of an Arab tribe in Sudan s war-ravaged Darfur region have been killed and almost 900 wounded in seven weeks of clashes, an MP representing the district said on Monday.
The toll is far higher than figures previously given for the fighting between the Rezeigat tribe and rival Arabs from the Beni Hussein group in the Jebel Amir gold mining area of North Darfur.
Aid workers say the fighting has caused the region s largest uprooting of the population in years.
"The number of martyrs from January 6 until February 23 is 510, including women and children. Another 865 were wounded," Adam Sheikha told reporters. He said all the casualties belonged to his Beni Hussein tribe.
MP Sheikha represents El Sireaf district where the violence has been concentrated.
It is unclear how many Rezeigat were killed.
Sheikha said that 68 villages had been burned to the ground, with 120 partly burned, and that 15 women were raped.
In the latest attack, on Saturday, residents in El Sireaf town said a Rezeigat militia fired heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, burned houses and killed more than 50 people.
Peacekeepers on Sunday airlifted 37 wounded civilians, including a woman and two children, for treatment in the state capital El Fasher, the African Union-UN Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) said in a statement late Monday.
Up to 200 died during clashes in January, Amnesty International said earlier, adding that Sudanese security officers were reportedly involved.
Sheikha, of the ruling National Congress Party, said the militia who carried out the weekend assault "came on government vehicles carrying state-issued weapons and they got their salaries from the state."
Attempts to reach a Rezeigat source were unsuccessful.
North Darfur governor Osman Kbir said on Monday that officials were "containing the situation and normalising life at El Sireaf locality after intervention of the armed forces," the official SUNA news agency reported.
But Sheikha said militia are surrounding the displaced who are confined within an area of seven square kilometres (2.7 square miles).
