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Darfur rebels clash with Sudanese government forces
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Sep 18, 2008 - 6:51:01 AM

Darfur rebels clash with Sudanese government forces

Sudanese military spokesman Sawarmy Khaled could not confirm the claim and said there were no field reports from the area.

Peacekeepers from the U.N.-African Union force in Darfur said there were government troop movements near the Tawila area, close to where the rebels said they attacked government troops. One of the rebel groups said fighters captured 10 soldiers. A spokesman for the other group did not mention any soldiers being taken captive.

The claimed attack would be the first rebel response to a two-week government offensive in northern and central Darfur. Military officials have called it a crackdown on bandits.

Sudan's government has been fighting rebels in Darfur since 2003 in a conflict that has killed up to 300,000 people and driven more than 2.5 million from their homes. The country's president is facing genocide and war crimes charges filed by a prosecutor at an international tribunal in the Netherlands. The tribunal's judges have not yet decided whether to issue an arrest warrant.

Mohammed Adam, a rebel commander for the Sudan Liberation Army in the east of Jebel Marra, a rugged mountainous area in central Darfur, said his fighters were tipped off about advancing government troops. "They beat them near Khazan Tunjur and destroyed three vehicles," Adam said. His fighters took seven vehicles and captured 10 soldiers before the force retreated, he said.

Adam said the ambush was coordinated with a rival rebel faction, the SLA-Unity. Spokesman Mahgoub Hussain, speaking from London, gave a much higher figure for the seized and destroyed vehicles. He said there was no way to immediately count the casualties and did not mention any captives.

Also Wednesday, Kemal Saiki, a spokesman for the UNAMID peacekeeping force, said a helicopter on an assessment mission in northern Darfur was fired upon but returned to base safely. A UNAMID team was going to an area that experienced clashes earlier this month to verify reports that thousands of villagers fled after a government attack.