By Andrew Heavens

KHARTOUM, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Sudanese forces who killed dozens of residents of a camp for displaced persons in Darfur in a raid on Monday were massing outside the camp again on Tuesday, rebels and residents said.

Residents of South Darfur's Kalma camp told Reuters they feared government forces were preparing to make a second attempt to force their way into the settlement.

Kalma, home to 90,000 people forced out of their homes by fighting in west Sudan's desert Darfur region since rebellion broke out more than five years ago, has long been a flashpoint.

Sudanese authorities have launched a number of failed attempts to seize arms from the camp in the past, claiming rebels and bandits were using it as a base.

Kalma resident Omar Ali Omar Suleiman told Reuters Sudanese police and soldiers had built up their positions around the camp overnight. "They are gathering outside. We think they will try to come in again," he said.

"We now know 46 persons have died and 118 were injured" in Monday's clash, he said.

Ahmed Abdel Shafie, leader of a rebel Sudan Liberation Army faction, said 60 seriously injured residents had been evacuated to hospital in nearby Nyala, while many other casualties were still in the camp.

But the state SUNA news agency said that armed Kalma residents had started the fighting when police moved in to seize weapons, and that only seven camp residents had been injured.

SUNA issued a statement from South Darfur state's Security Committee saying that no one had been killed in the clashes, but five police officers and seven residents had been injured.

The officers, who moved in after receiving reports that a large number of weapons had been delivered to Kalma, were "met with strong resistance from the instigated and mobilized displaced citizens who were incited to put barricades and to move in the streets," SUNA reported.

Police will hold their positions outside the camp until the collection of the "stockpiled weapons" was complete, it added.

Shafie, of the LRA faction, said government forces had blocked the road out of the camp. "There is no one going in or out. The situation is very bad with the rains, and food is running out. They are surrounding the camp."

He said government agents inside the camp, not residents, had started the fighting. "They infiltrated Kalma to provoke the residents and justify their own atrocities," he said.

Camp residents and Darfur rebels have accused the government of trying to clear the camp to force residents to return to their homes under a government resettlement plan.

The raid came at a time of heightened tension in Darfur after the International Criminal Court moved to indict President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for genocide in the remote western region.

Darfur rebels, who back the ICC move, have accused Khartoum of carrying out a string of attacks and bombings in the region in an attempt to gain territory before negotiations with the joint U.N./African Union mediator for Darfur Djibril Bassole.

International experts say 200,000 people have been killed and more than 2.5 million driven from their homes by the fighting in Darfur. Khartoum puts the death count at 10,000. (Editing by Tim Pearce)

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