Sudan forces kill 27 in Darfur camp clash: rebels

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudanese forces attacked a Darfur refugee camp on Monday, leaving up to 27 dead and scores wounded, rebel leaders said.

The United Nations said it was "gravely concerned" at reports Sudanese security vehicles had surrounded South Darfur's volatile Kalma camp and that attacks had resulted in "injuries and deaths of civilians".

A spokesman for Sudan's army said officers had entered the camp to search for weapons, but insisted armed camp residents had fired on them first.

Kalma camp, long a centre of unrest, is home to 90,000 people who have fled their villages in five years of fighting in western Sudan between rebels, the government and militias.

The government has accused armed rebel supporters of taking refuge in Kalma while residents have accused government-backed militias of mounting a string of raids on the settlement.

Leaders of two Darfur rebel factions told Reuters government forces in around 100 vehicles surrounded Kalma at 5 a.m. (10 p.m. EDT). A U.N. source said there were reports shooting had started inside the camp three hours later.

"I am inside the camp Kalma. Now there is still shooting," Abakr Suleiman, a senior tribal leader inside the settlement, said at 10 a.m. "There is heavy shooting. They came into the camp and killed people. There are houses burning."

Ahmed Abdel Shafie, leader of a Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) faction, said there were 27 confirmed deaths in what he said was an attack by Sudan's army.

"The IDPs (internally displaced people) are resisting, we are expecting casualties," Shafie added. "They (the government of Sudan) want to demolish Kalma camp, they want to force people to leave."

Aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres said at least 65 people -- more than half of them women and children -- were treated at its Kalma clinic after being injured in the shooting.

DEFIANCE

A U.N. source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there had been a "full armed confrontation" between the Sudanese armed forces and camp residents.

The source said early, unconfirmed reports suggested 32 people had been killed and 105 injured in the fighting.

Noureddine Mezni, spokesman for the joint U.N./African Union UNAMID peacekeepers in Darfur, said Sudanese police had shown peacekeepers a search warrant authorizing them to enter Kalma camp to search for weapons and "possible wanted persons".

Yahia El Bashir, the British-based spokesman for another SLA faction, said the attack was "a message of defiance to the international community. We call on the UNAMID peacekeepers to do their job and defend the IDPs."

Mezni said UNAMID officers were on their way to the camp to prepare a full report.

The United Nations' most senior humanitarian official in Sudan, Ameerah Haq, called for restraint, adding "such actions severely threaten the safety and security of civilians who have a right to protection under International Humanitarian Law".

A spokesman for Sudan's armed forces, speaking on condition of anonymity, said an army search party was fired on from inside the camp. "They (the search party) tried to resist and there was an exchange of fire between the two sides," he added. "We are still waiting for details of casualties from all sides."

International experts say more than 2.5 million Darfuris have been driven from their homes by five years of violence that has killed 200,000 people. Sudan puts the death count at 10,000.

The new joint U.N.-African Union mediator for Darfur, Djibril Bassole, is due to arrive in Khartoum on Monday to take up his position.

(Additional reporting by Opheera McDoom; Editing by Giles Elgood)