Clashes between military forces and armed groups at the facilities of a former international peacekeeping mission in the Darfur region of Sudan left an unknown number of people dead or injured on Saturday, a military statement said.

Witnesses told Reuters that they had heard heavy gunfire around the perimeter of the former headquarters of the African Union-United Nations UNAMID peacekeeping mission in El Fasher, North Darfur, but that the number of casualties is unclear.