Some 30 civilians were killed by militiamen who ambushed their refugee convoy in western Darfur, and African Union (AU) peacekeepers investigating the attack were taken hostage by rioters, the AU and the UN said.
The UN said armed men on horseback ambushed the civilian truck transporting medicine and relief items between the towns of El Geneina and Sirba.
The exact number of civilians killed could not be confirmed, but was estimated at around 30 people, Radhia Achouri, spokeswoman for the UN mission in Sudan, said.
"Some of the passengers were shot by the attackers and others were burnt to death during the attack," the UN said in a separate statement on Sunday.
An aid worker said the assailants were government-backed janjaweed -- members of an Arab tribal militia -- and that they attacked the convoy with rocket-propelled grenades, then killed survivors. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of restrictions the Sudanese government has placed on aid workers.
AU spokesman Noureddine Mezni said rioters angry over the deaths were holding captive a helicopter crew and eight AU peacekeepers who were in Sirba to investigate the incident.
The AU base in El Geneina was also being attacked, Mezni said.
Sudanese police transported the bodies of the victims, all ethnic African refugees from the Erenga tribe, to a refugee camp on the outskirts of El Geneina, and demonstrations erupted around the town, the aid worker said.
A UN official in Darfur said rioting and sporadic shooting took place in the town on Sunday.
He said he did not know who was attacking the AU base, but said he did not believe it was the janjaweed.
The airport was closed and all UN staff and aid workers were grounded, the official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
A 4pm curfew has been imposed in El Geneina, but the UN had no plans to evacuate staff for now, he said.
Some 135 UN staff, diplomats and aid workers have already been evacuated from the North Darfur capital of El Fasher, after at least 10 people were killed in a week of janjaweed attacks there.
Another 25 UN and aid workers were pulled out from the North Darfur town of Kutum, and 41 aid workers have been withdrawn from various locations in South Darfur where an aid group's compound was raided by armed men in uniform, the UN said.
The increased violence underscored the worsening situation in Darfur, where more than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million driven from their homes since early 2003.
Rebels have threatened to attack El Fasher to protect civilians from the janjaweed.
An aid worker in El Fasher said the janjaweed militia had deployed across the town. The fighters were dressed in a government uniform for a new paramilitary group, the Sudan Border Intelligence Force, he said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
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