KHARTOUM, Sudan – Fighting near a village in Sudan’s crisis-plagued Darfur region killed at least 17 people yesterday, while helicopters rescued dozens of workers who fled into the bush to escape.

The state minister, Ahmed Haroon, said rebels attacked the strategic North Darfur town of Tawilla early yesterday, killing 17 people and destroying the town’s hospital. He said an unknown number of people were injured. A statement by an aid organization said government planes also dropped bombs on the town.

But Mr. Haroon denied that the government had violated a cease-fire between rebels and the government.

“These areas are under our control. Those who talk of violations are making unsubstantiated accusations,” he said.

During the clashes between rebels and Arab militiamen in Tawilla, African Union peacekeepers airlifted 45 people who had spent several hours hiding in the bush outside the town of Tawilla during clashes between rebels and Arab militiamen, U.N. spokesman George Somerwill said.

Sudan country director for Save The Children, UK, Kate Haiff, said more than 30 Sudanese workers for her organization and some other people were airlifted to the North Darfur capital of El Fasher.

Mr. Somerwill, speaking by telephone, said no humanitarian aid is reaching thousands of people displaced by violence in Tawilla.

A tribal dispute over livestock sparked the clashes, which began Sunday and led to rebel Sudan Liberation Army forces attacking the government allied Arab militia known as the Janjaweed, Mr. Somerwill said.

Tawilla is a strategic location that the government uses to supply forces based in western Sudan, near the Chad border, and areas in Darfur’s northwest. It is also home to about 30,000 African villagers displaced by the conflict.

A Save the Children statement said a Sudanese government plane dropped several bombs on Tawilla, with one landing 50 yards from one of the organization’s feeding centers.

Mr. Somerwill said African Union forces confirmed that Sudanese “air assets were used, but we can’t confirm there was hostile action.”

If the reports are correct, they represent an apparent breach of November 9 accords between rebels and the government, including a Sudanese agreement to create “no-fly zones” over Darfur. Rebels and African Union mediators had demanded the zones following widespread accusations of government bombings of villages.

In South Darfur, rebel forces attacked the Kalma camp housing thousands of people displaced by the 21-month Darfur conflict, Mr. Somerwill said. The fighting killed four Sudanese policemen and injured five others, regional Governor Hajj Atta Manan told Sudan’s official news agency. Four rebels were arrested.

Sudanese forces later regained control of the camp, located near the South Darfur capital of Nyala, and humanitarian aid workers have resumed work, Mr. Somerwill added.