Sudan: Armed Gang Attacks Darfur Refugee Camp Leaves One Soldier Dead

An armed gang have attacked international peacekeepers in Sudan's Darfur region, killing one and wounding another.

The armed assailants attacked a refugee camp near the border with South Sudan, according to a statement from Unamid, a joint United Nations and African Union mission in Sudan.

The statement adds that the gang surrounded the community policing centre in the Otash refugee camp, before opening fire. They fled when the police fired back.

It is reported that the missionary who died was from Bangladesh's Formed Police Unit. He is the 38th peacekeeper to die since Unamid was formed in December 2007.

"The attack on our peacekeepers is cowardly (and) deplorable and our thoughts go to the families and friends of the fallen and the injured," said Aichatou Mindaoudou, acting joint special representative for the mission.

The identity of the gunmen, and their motivation for the attack, have yet to be verified.

However, Unamid claims the attack is part of a wider wave of violence which was triggered by an incident on 1 August, after three armed men carjacked the Alwaha district commissioner and his driver, shooting both men dead.

"Subsequently, on the same day armed men surrounded Kassab, looted the market, burnt down the Sudanese Police post in the camp and reportedly killed four persons (three civilians and one police officer) and injured six others," the statement said.

Over the following days fighting spread to Kutum town, Kassab camp and Fataborno camp, and violence "including fighting between the armed elements and government forces, as well as looting and displacement of civilians", the statement added.