Death toll at Darfur camp rises to nine, U.N. says

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The death toll from weekend clashes at a refugee camp in Sudan's violence-torn Darfur region has risen to nine, the United Nations said on Tuesday.

Darfur's joint U.N./African Union (UNAMID) peacekeeping force initially said gunmen shot dead six people and injured 33 in the clashes at the Hamidiya camp, close to the town of Zalingei in West Darfur state, early on Saturday morning.

"The death toll later increased to nine" from what refugees said "appeared to be a well executed and coordinated attack," U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters in New York.

More than seven years of fighting in the arid region has driven more than 2 million people to take shelter in ramshackle camps that are dependent on aid agencies for food and water.

Many camps have become highly politicized, and the government in Khartoum has accused some camp leaders of stockpiling weapons and harboring fighters for rebel groups.

UNAMID said it did not know who was behind the incident.

A government official from Zalingei, who asked not to be named, said refugees backing Darfur's faltering peace talks had attacked supporters of a group that opposed them.

The rebel Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) is one group boycotting the talks. But the SLA denied any rebel splits were behind the fighting and accused Sudanese security forces of launching the attack.

Divisions are deep over the talks in Qatar, which have made little progress in the absence of the two main rebel groups.

Haq said UNAMID had reinforced its presence at the camp and was patrolling on a 24-hour basis. "The situation remains volatile. although there have not been any new incidents," he said.

The clashes there came two days after the SLA said pro-government fighters had killed up to 54 people at a market in North Darfur's Tabarat village. Most of the reported victims were residents of a nearby refugee camp.

Mostly non-Arab Darfuris took up arms in early 2003, accusing Khartoum of neglect. The government responded by mobilizing mostly Arab militias, who have been accused of a campaign of rape, murder and looting that created one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

(Reporting by Patrick Worsnip; Editing by Sandra Maler)