Deadly Darfur clash between farmers and nomads: UN

KHARTOUM (AFP) - A deadly gunbattle in Darfur, which rebels had blamed on the Sudanese army, was between nomads and farmers trying to stop them crossing their land, the UN said Sunday, revising the toll down to five.

"When the farmers tried to stop the nomads, the nomads reacted and started firing on the farmers, killing three and injuring two. Then the farmers retaliated and killed two of the nomads," Susan Manuel, a spokeswoman for the UN-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID), told AFP.

The police took those injured in the clash, which broke out late on Thursday in the North Darfur village of Tamaru, to Seraf Umra hospital, she added.

Earlier, a branch of the Sudan Liberation Army, one of Darfur's main rebel factions, had said the Sudanese army attacked two villages in the Seraf Umra area on Thursday night, killing seven residents and forcing dozens to flee.

The army spokesman subsequently dismissed the accusations.

At least 300,000 people have been killed and 1.7 million remain displaced by the fighting in Darfur that first erupted in 2003, when non-Arab rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated Khartoum regime, the United Nations says.

Despite the rapid growth in the number of city dwellers since the start of the conflict, the majority of Darfur's population are farmers, many of them nomads, and much of the fighting has become inextricably linked to disputes over natural resources.