Fighting in Sudan's Darfur kills more than 500 - lawmaker

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Fighting over control of a gold mine in Sudan's Darfur region has killed more than 500 people and destroyed 68 villages since January, a Sudanese lawmaker said on Monday, sharply increasing estimates of the casualties from the violence.

Law and order has collapsed across the arid western region since mainly non-Arab rebels took up arms against the Arab-led government in Khartoum in 2003, accusing it of neglecting Darfur.