KHARTOUM, Oct 21: Around 50 people have been killed in three days of tribal clashes in the central Sudanese region of Kordofan, government officials were quoted as saying on Sunday.

Dozens were wounded in the fighting sparked by the killing of one person in a land dispute, North Kordofan Governor Faisal Hassan Ibrahim was quoted as saying by the pro-government Sudanese Media Centre.

The North Kordofan government said that 50 people were killed in clashes between the Uled Abdel Rahman branch of the Majanin tribe and the Arifia branch of the Dar Hamed tribe, the Akbar al-Yom daily said.

Governor Ibrahim said that the situation was now under control thanks to the deployment of security forces and that the clashes had no political slant.

North Kordofan lies to the east of Darfur where a four-year civil war has left hundreds of thousands dead, according to UN figures. Some in the Khartoum government fear that the fighting in Darfur might spill over into Kordofan.—AFP