Nearly 400 people have been killed in recent clashes between the Sudanese army and Darfur's main rebel group, according to Sudanese state media.

Most of the people killed - more than 300 - were members of the Justice and Equality Movement (Jem).

Eighty-six soldiers were also reportedly killed in the fighting earlier this week.

United Nations peacekeepers in Darfur confirmed that there were at least two major clashes between the two sides.

The under-equipped peacekeepers, with a mandate to cover an area the size of Spain, said they were also investigating reports of a third clash in Daba Tago, near the north Darfur settlement of Mellit.

General Al-Tayeb al-Musbah, of the Sudanese army, told the state-run Suna news agency that the army destroyed "scores of Jem vehicles" during the fighting. Jem has not yet commented on the clashes.

Violence has been increasing in Darfur in recent months. The United Nations said that nearly 600 people were killed in the region in May, making it the bloodiest month in Darfur in nearly two years.

Fighting has been particularly heavy around the Jebel Moon region, where more than 150 people were killed in a single battle.

The renewed fighting is one reason why peace talks between Jem and the government were suspended in May.

Darfur, which is about the same size as France, has been gripped by civil war since ethnic minority rebels rose up against the Arab-dominated government and their supporters in 2003.

About 300,000 people have died and 2.7 million fled their homes because of the violence, according to UN figures. Khartoum disputes these claims, saying that 10,000 people have been killed.

PHOTO CAPTION

A picture shows fighters from the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) at an undisclosed location in Sudan's western Darfur region.

Al-Jazeera