Nairobi/Khartoum - At least 24 people died and over 50 were injured after Sudanese security forces opened fire inside a refugee camp in Sudan's restive Darfur province, a United Nations official said Tuesday, confirming earlier reports from Sudanese rebels.

The Sudan Liberation Army Monday said that at least 27 people died in the Kalma camp - near the capital of South Darfur, Nyala - when Sudanese troops opened fire indiscriminately.

However, South Darfur state's security committee, in a statement released through state news agency SUNA, said that nobody was killed in the incident. It said that police were fired upon as they tried to seize a rebel weapons' cache inside the camp.

Nairobi/Khartoum - The joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission (UNAMID) in Sudan's restive Darfur province said Monday it was checking up on claims that Sudanese troops had killed dozens in a refugee camp.

The BBC, quoting a rebel spokesman, said that Sudanese troops opened fire killing 27 people in the Kalma camp, where almost 100,000 people live after fleeing fighting.

"We have our people inside the camp and they are assessing the situation," UNAMID spokesman Noureddne Mezni told Deutsche Presse- Agentur dpa.

Various sources put the death toll in the camp, which is near Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, both higher and lower.

Nairobi/Khartoum - The Sudanese president has grounded all Russian-made planes and sacked the head of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) after the latest in a series of plane crashes, local media

Nairobi/Khartoum - A cargo plane has crashed near Khartoum airport, reports said Monday.

Nairobi-Khartoum - A member of the joint United Nations- African Union peackeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID) was abducted and assaulted by a mounted militia, UNAMID said in a statement.