More than 60 people were killed and another 60 wounded in a new violence in the West Darfur region of Sudan, UN officials announced Sunday.
Around 500 armed men attacked the town of Masteri, north of Beida, in Darfur, on Saturday afternoon, according to the statement from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
The attackers attacked members of the local Masalit community, looted and set fire to houses and part of the local market, the statement added.
"This was one of the latest security incidents reported in the past week that left several villages and houses burned, markets and shops looted and damage to infrastructure," said the statement from OCHA's Khartoum office.
Following Saturday's attack on Masteri, around 500 local people staged a protest demanding more protection from the authorities.
Members of the Masalit community said they would not bury their dead until authorities took action, OCHA said.
On Sunday, Sudan's Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok said the government would send security forces to the conflict-affected region to "protect citizens and the agricultural season."
His announcement came two days after gunmen in the region killed at least 20 civilians, including children, when they returned to their fields for the first time in years, the latest in a series of violent incidents.
Recent killings have targeted African agricultural tribes in conflict with nomadic Arab tribes on the land.
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