Four killed, three wounded in rebel attack in western Sudan: Khartoum media

May 31st, 2004.

KHARTOUM, May 31 (AFP) -- Four people were killed and three wounded when rebels robbed a vehicle transporting cash to a bank in the troubled Darfur region of western Sudan, a media group close to the government said Monday.

The rebels opened fire on the vehicle belonging to the Omkadada bank and made off with 250 million Sudanese dinars (97,000 dollars), the Sudanese Media Centre (SMC) said.

They abducted one of the men in the vehicle, it added.

Meanwhile another rebel group opened fire on a market in Tabit, south of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur State, the SMC reported. It gave no casualty toll.

Fighting between government forces and two rebel groups in Darfur has left some 10,000 people dead and well over a million homeless since February 2003 in what the United Nations has described as the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

The government and the rebels on Friday signed an accord that should allow international observers to be deployed in the region on Wednesday.