Fighting between two Arab tribes has killed 100 people in Sudan's Darfur region, where worsening unrest has left hundreds dead this year, one of them said on Sunday.

The battle between a group of Rezeigat and the rival Maaliya tribe happened near Adila in East Darfur state on Saturday.

"We clashed with Maaliya... and we destroyed a compound of theirs and killed 70 of them," said a Rezeigat source, who declined to be named.

"We lost 30 of our men.

"There is still high tension and men from both sides are gathered," the source said.

Both sides said the fighters used Land Cruiser vehicles, while the Maaliya accused their opponents of employing "heavy weapons" -- a common allegation in Darfur's tribal fighting.

A Maaliya source told AFP: "We still expect more fighting today."

He said the Rezeigat "attacked" and burned villages.

The Maaliya source declined to say how many from his tribe had died but said his group "killed 40" of their adversaries.

Inter-tribal and inter-ethnic fighting has been the major source of violence in Darfur this year, where an estimated 300,000 people were displaced in the first five months alone, the African Union-UN peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID) says.

East Darfur had been relatively free from the tribal fighting, much of which has occurred in Darfur's north and west.

Late last month in North Darfur state, another branch of the Rezeigat inked a peace deal to end a separate conflict with rival Arabs from the Beni Hussein group.

A member of parliament said their battles killed hundreds over several weeks.

The Misseriya and Salamat Arab tribes less than two weeks ago announced that they had reached a tentative ceasefire in another conflict, after fighting which one of them said had killed more than 200 people.

These battles reflect the altered dynamics of a decade-old conflict in which, observers say, the government can no longer control its former Arab tribal allies known as Janjaweed.

With the situation changing, the United Nations Security Council called last month for a review of the UN-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID).