Fresh clashes erupted on Friday clashes between the feuding Ma’alia and Rizeigat tribes in Sudan’s East Darfur state, local leaders said.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Sunday, several traditional leaders said the number of the casualties remains unclear as each side records a different number.
Mohammed Ahmed Nur, a traditional elder of the Ma’alia community, said a group of men from the Ma’alia tribe were following their stolen cattle when they were attacked by armed Rizeigat tribesmen who killed two people and injured two others.
For his part, the Paramount Chief of the Rizeigat Mohammed Al-Hajj Murano accused Ma’alia tribesmen who were allegedly following their stolen livestock of attacking a vehicle carrying people from the Rizeigat community triggering the clashes.
He said at least eight people were killed and 12 others injured in the attack, adding that the injured were rushed to Ad Daein Hospital for treatment.
Mohammed Yusuf, a leader of the Ma’alia tribe, Mohammed Youssef, said the clashes stopped on Sunday morning but he could not confirm the exact number of casualties from both sides.
Yusuf further said government troops were deployed between the two communities to stop escalation of the conflict. However, he expressed fears that the fighting might resume if the state government does not show commitment to end the clashes.