Sudan army accuses Darfur rebels of attacking military unit

Friday July 2nd, 2004.

KHARTOUM, July 2 (AFP) -- The Sudanese army has accused rebels of violating a ceasefire agreement by attacking one of its units in the country's troubled western region of Darfur, state-run radio reported.

The armed forces general command said that on Wednesday and Thursday armed rebels attacked an army unit escorting humanitarian relief convoys heading from Nyala to Ed Diein in Southern Darfur state, Radio Omdurman said.

Government troops "inflicted heavy losses on the rebels and seized a considerable number of weapons," the radio quoted the statement as saying.

On Thursday, a spokesman for one of the rebel groups fighting the Khartoum government and an allied militia in the region said the Sudanese air force bombed three villages in Darfur.

At least 10,000 people have been killed in Darfur since fighting broke out in the western Sudanese region in February last year, when black African rebel groups rose up against the government in Khartoum.

Darfur rebels and the Khartoum government signed a ceasefire on April 8, but have since accused each other of repeatedly violating the pact.