KHARTOUM - Three Sudanese soldiers were killed when government forces attacked a refugee camp in Darfur, the second assault reported on a shelter for displaced people in less than a week, the United Nations said on Monday.
The fighting, at Hamidiya camp near the western town of Zalengei, was the latest in a series of clashes just days before planned peace talks between Sudan's government and rebel groups.
No one from the Sudanese armed forces was immediately available for comment.
France's secretary of state for human rights and foreign affairs, Rama Yade, speaking at the start of a two-day visit to Khartoum and Darfur, said on Monday security in Sudan's remote west was worsening.
The U.N. mission in Sudan said there had been reports of three killings after Sudanese troops surrounded Hamidiya Camp and started shooting into the settlement on Saturday.
A U.N. spokeswoman said the troops moved in following reports that displaced people had killed a government intelligence officer inside the camp earlier the same day.
"SAF (Sudan Armed Forces) soldiers tried to enter the camp twice. Initial reports indicate that SAF suffered three casualties," the spokeswoman said. "Some IDPs (internally displaced people) have reportedly left the camp in fear of a further attack."
A few days earlier, residents in Kalma camp outside Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, reported a series of raids by government-backed militias. The African Union later confirmed that armed assailants had attacked the camp, killing several people.
The state-controlled Sudanese Media Centre on Sunday reported 10 per cent of Kalma's population had fled since the violence, which it blamed on clashes between tribal groups in the settlement. It made no mention of militias.
