Nearly a dozen people have been killed and around 20 others injured in clashes in Sudan's restive Darfur region.

“The number of bodies that have arrived at the hospital has reached 11,” a doctor at Nyala hospital said on Saturday, adding at least 20 people were treated for gunshot wounds.

The clashes began on Wednesday between Arab herders and the Daju minority and other non-Arab groups, around 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the South Darfur state capital Nyala, witnesses said.

It was not immediately clear what sparked the fighting.

According to the official news agency SUNA, four people were killed after a group of herders riding camels attacked Amuri village on Friday. It added that the fight claimed the lives of two other people between Wednesday and Thursday.

Another person was killed when the fighting spread to nearby villages, which were “partially burnt” as shops were looted, the news agency added quoting a government statement.

The spokesman for the General Coordination for Refugees and Displaced in Darfur charity, Adam Regal, said the death toll might be much higher as the fight is still going on.