Bandits massacre 100 villagers in Sudan

However, aid agencies working in Sudan said on Tuesday they had no immediate information on the reports that appeared in two independent Sudanese newspapers a day before.

Interior Ministry officials also had no comment.

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Al-Ayam daily said Arab tribesmen and nomadic cattle breeders attacked 15 villages in west Darfur, 1,020 km west of Khartoum, on Thursday and Friday, killing at least 100 and forcing thousands of people to flee their homes.

Parliament member Khalid Bilal was quoted by Alwan daily as saying a group of parliamentarians would go to west Darfur to console the people.

Darfur, on the border with Chad and Central Africa, is home to some 80 tribes and ethnic groups divided between nomads of Arab origin and farmers of African origin.

Nearly a fifth of Sudan's 30 million people live in the region, one of the country's least developed, where cycles of drought and desert creep have shrunk its vast grazing areas and spurred friction among nomads and farmers.

The situation worsened earlier this year when a Darfur group demanding self determination for the region attacked Sudanese government troops. Last month, the government and the Darfur Liberation Army agreed to a 45-day cease-fire.

Humanitarian agencies have expressed concern in the past about fighting and banditry in Darfur that has displaced large numbers of civilians.

Earlier this month, according to a newspaper report, 15 people were killed and scores were injured in tribal clashes in Darfur.