At least 138 people have been killed and dozens wounded in three separate areas of Sudan’s West Darfur state in recent weeks, medics have said, in the latest bout of inter-communal violence.

The West Darfur Doctors Committee said in statements on Wednesday and Thursday that attacks in the Kreinik area killed 88 and wounded 84, while renewed violence in the rugged Jebel Moon mountains killed 25 and wounded four. Meanwhile, violence in the Sarba locality killed eight and wounded six.

“Many of the wounded died because they could not reach medical facilities, and community clinics in rural areas are not equipped,” the doctors said.

Violence first broke out on November 17 between armed Arab camel herders in the Jebel Moon area. West Darfur Governor Khamis Abdallah said the violence was sparked by “a dispute over camel looting”, and that “military reinforcements have been sent to the area and the situation has stabilised”.

On December 4, separate clashes erupted in the Krenik region of West Darfur between rival groups using automatic weapons.

“They have created a wave of displacement from the outskirts into the town, with a humanitarian situation that can be described at the very least as catastrophic,” the doctor’s union said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the Coordinating Committee for Refugee and Displacement Camps, a local NGO, said Zamzam refugee camp was encircled by militias and the Donki Shata area of North Darfur was also attacked.

According to the United Nations, the violence in Jebel Moon alone has displaced more more than 10,000 people, with 2,000 fleeing across the border into Chad.

Between January and September 2021, displacement has been about seven times more than during the whole of 2020, constituting the highest number of displacements in at least six years, the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says.