Up to 18 000 refugees were trying to find shelter in the desert just inside the border with Chad on Thursday after Sudanese government aircraft bombed several targets in a fierce flare-up of an unexpected new war in Sudan's vast western province of Darfur.
UN officials and other aid workers have warned of a huge humanitarian emergency with as many as 600 000 people made homeless by fighting inside the territory. Unlike the refugees who escaped into Chad, they remain out of reach of international help.
Refugees and aid workers report frequent bombing raids by Sudanese government planes round the town of Tine which straddles the border, as well as mass killings and hut burnings by armed pro-government horsemen in other parts of Darfur.
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