Deadly clashes in camp in Darfur

Kalma is one of Darfur's most volatile camps for displaced people

A police officer has been killed and four people have been injured in clashes in Kalma camp in Darfur, Sudan's UK ambassador has told the BBC.

Omar Seddeek said rebels have been infiltrating camps in Darfur and said some were trying to provoke the security forces into an armed conflict.

A Kalma camp spokesman told Reuters news agency that government soldiers had surrounded the camp around dawn.

Some 2m people have been displaced by the four-year conflict in Darfur.

'Human shields'

Correspondents say Kalma - which is just outside Nyala and has a population of some 90,000 residents - is one of Darfur's most volatile camps and has been the scene of riots and kidnappings in the past.

"At 6am the government of Sudan moved 2,000 soldiers to surround the camp," Kalma camp spokesman Abu Sharrad is quoted as saying.

The move follows attacks in the past week on police posts in South Darfur, Reuters reports.

Mr Seddeek told the BBC's Arabic service that rebels were using the camps' residents as human shields.

He said there would be an inquiry into Tuesday's violence.

A 26,000-strong UN and African Union peacekeeping force is to be deployed to the region by the end of the year to help the 7,000-strong AU force that has failed to stem the violence in the region.

Earlier this month, most of Darfur's rebel groups agreed on a common position and called for talks with Sudan's government within two or three months.