By Andrew Heavens

KHARTOUM, Aug 25 (Reuters) - Sudanese troops attacked a Darfur displaced persons camp on Monday, leaving up to 18 dead and scores wounded, rebel leaders and a camp resident said.

Kalma camp in South Darfur, home to some 90,000 people who have fled their homes during five years of fighting, has long been a centre of unrest.

The government has accused armed rebel supporters of taking refuge in Kalma while residents have accused government-backed militias of mounting a string of raids on the settlement.

Yahia El Bashir, the British-based spokesman for the arm of the rebel Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) led by Abdel Wahed Mohamed Ahmed al-Nur, said troops had gone into the camp to try to clear it of residents.

"This is a message of defiance to the international community. We call on the UNAMID peacekeepers to do their job and defend the IDPs (internally displaced persons)," he added.

UNAMID, the joint U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force deployed in the vast desert region in west Sudan, has been severely hampered by shortages of equipment and troops.

Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir denies accusations that his forces are responsible for genocide in Darfur, and Arab and African states say moves by the International Criminal Court to indict him could hinder efforts to bring peace.

Leaders of two rebel factions told Reuters that soldiers in around 100 vehicles surrounded Kalma at 5 a.m. (0200 GMT) on Monday, then opened fire.

"I am inside the camp Kalma. Now there is still shooting," Abakr Suleiman, a senior tribal leader inside the settlement said at 10 a.m. "There is heavy shooting. They came into the camp and killed people. There are houses burning."

He said up to 18 people had been killed and an unknown number wounded. Other unconfirmed reports from rebel groups put the death count at around 50.

CAMP RESIDENTS RESIST TROOPS

Ahmed Abdel Shafie, leader of one SLA faction, said: "The IDP are resisting, we are expecting casualties. They (the government of Sudan) want to demolish Kalma camp, they want to force people to leave."

No one was immediately available for comment from the Sudanese Armed Forces.

UNAMID spokesman Kemal Saiki said he had received reports of shooting at Kalma, close to south Darfur's capital Nyala, and officers had sent patrols to the area to check.

He said there were unconfirmed reports that there had been an exchange of fire and that government troops had tried to mount a "cordon and search" operation. The authorities have made unsuccessful attempts to disarm Kalma residents in the past.

The new joint U.N.-African Union mediator for Darfur, Djibril Bassole, was due to arrive in Khartoum on Monday to take up his position.

International experts say more than 2.5 million Darfuris have been driven from their homes to take shelter in camps like Kalma by five years of violence that has also killed 200,000 people. Sudan accuses western media of exaggerating the scale of the conflict and puts the death count at 10,000. (Additional reporting by Opheera McDoom, editing by Tim Pearce)

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