By Andrew Heavens

KHARTOUM, Sept 3 (Reuters) - One person was killed and six were injured when hundreds of women clashed with police in a Darfur refugee camp in a riot sparked by a reduction in food rations, the United Nations said on Wednesday.

The shouting women, armed with sticks, charged at police on Tuesday in west Darfur's Um Shalaya camp, a base for refugees from neighbouring Chad, the UN's Refugee Agency UNHCR said.

One 26-year-old male refugee who was also in the crowd died after being shot in the chest as police opened fire, according to a statement from the agency. Three other refugees and three police were also injured.

The women were protesting a day after hearing about a temporary reduction in rations of sorghum, said the agency.

Deliveries were cut because it had become too dangerous to transport the food to the camp from the capital of west Darfur state El Geneina.

A number of aid agencies including the U.N.'s World Food Programme have been forced to cut back on deliveries in Darfur in recent months after a surge in bandit attacks on convoys.

Chrysantus Ache, the UNHCR's representative for Sudan, described the incident as "very regrettable" and said the agency and Sudanese authorities would launch an investigation.

"Hundreds of stick-bearing and shouting women angrily demonstrated against a temporary food reduction due to logistical problems," read the statement from the UNHCR which described the incident as a "riot".

"The police fired warning shots in the air and in the confused situation some people were injured," it added.

The refugees asked for police to be stationed at the camp earlier this year to protect them against attacks by bandits and other armed groups, the UNHCR said.

There are about 50,000 east Chadian refugees in remote border areas of Darfur, most of them claiming asylum. About 6,600 of them are based in Um Shalaya. (Editing by Giles Elgood)

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