Militias raid Darfur camp, kill two refugees
From Reuters by Andrew Heavens in El-Fasher, Darfur, Sudan
(Additional reporting by Opheera McDoom in Khartoum; Editing by Randy Fabi)
Wednesday, 10 February 2010 6:06am EST - excerpt:
EL-FASHER, Sudan (Reuters) - Militias raided a Darfur refugee camp, shooting dead two people and injuring at least 10 in an escalation of tensions in Sudan's restive west, witnesses and U.N. officials said Wednesday.
The raid followed the murder of a militia member's relative who appeared to be searching the camps in Kass, South Darfur for the suspect, U.N. officials in Darfur said.
"The Janjaweed (militia) came in on horses and camels and were looting and shooting," Adam Ali, a resident in the Baytari camp in Kass town, told Reuters by telephone. "They burned many huts and looted the people's belongings." [...]
A patrol of U.N./African Union UNAMID peacekeepers on Tuesday saw armed horsemen riding into the camp, while others surrounded the settlement, one senior U.N. official said on condition of anonymity.
"They were members of an Arab militia, apparently related to the man who was killed. They were shooting sporadically when they entered the camp," the official told Reuters.
Ali said four people were killed, but the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) put the death toll at two, with 10 injured.
"Ten IDPs (internally displaced people) were taken to Kass hospital. Another two were shot dead," said OCHA spokesman Samuel Hendricks.
"It is concerning because it shows the level of tension. Things can easily escalate and get out of control," he added. [...]
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