Gunmen have looted a World Food Programme (WFP) warehouse containing some 1,900 tons of food aid in Darfur amid a surge of violence in the troubled western region, officials said Wednesday.

Residents of El-Fasher, capital of North Darfur state, reported heavy shooting near the warehouse late Tuesday. “We heard intense gunfire,” Mohamed Salem told AFP.

A WFP official said they were “conducting an audit into what was stolen from the warehouse, which contains some 1,900 tons of food products.”

Darfur has seen a spike in conflict since October triggered by disputes over land, livestock and access to water and grazing, with some 250 people reported killed in fighting between herders and farmers in recent months.

Tens of thousands have been forced to flee their homes, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Sudan is also reeling from political turbulence in the wake of a coup led by military commander General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan on October 25.

Last week, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned looting and violence near a former UN logistics base in El-Fasher that had been recently handed over to the local authorities.

Over 14 million people, a third of Sudan’s population, will need humanitarian aid next year, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the highest level for a decade.