September 14, 2006—Since 2003 armed conflict between government-sponsored militias and rebel groups has caused mass death and displacement in the Darfur region of western Sudan in Africa.

The U.S. Department of State estimates that the violent struggle has killed between 63,000 and 146,000 people. But a new study by U.S. researchers challenges this estimate, saying the official data is flawed and that fighting in Darfur has claimed at least 170,000 to 255,000 lives, possibly many more.

Go behind the headlines and examine the natural and human-caused factors that fuel the ongoing—and deadly—conflict in Sudan.