KHARTOUM, Sudan, June 05, 2004 (AP) -- A rebel group in Sudan's embattled Darfur region has kidnapped 16 relief workers from international aid organizations, a government official said Saturday.

Naguib Khair, a state minister for foreign affairs, said the Sudan Liberation Army took the hostages on Friday in Mellit, 31 miles north of al-Fasher, the Darfur capital.

The kidnapping comes just days after the Sudanese government had relaxed restrictions on access of humanitarian organizations to Darfur.

Three of the relief workers are foreigners and the rest are Sudanese, according to the official Sudanese Media Center. They work for the International Rescue Committee, Children UK, Sudan's Humanitarian Aid Commission and the United Nation's World Food Program and United Nation's Children's Fund.

"We the Sudanese government condemn and reject the abduction," Khair said. "We feel sorry for it and for exposing the lives of the United Nations and humanitarian aid workers to danger."

The Media Center said the hostages were abducted while driving vehicles bearing the U.N. insignia.

No further details were available, and no rebel comment was immediately available.

On Wednesday, the government said humanitarian workers could enter Darfur after notifying officials, a change from rules set up in May that required first applying for travel authorization. The move was apparently part of Sudan's efforts to streamline humanitarian aid and a response to complaints of delays and lack of full cooperation from the government.

The Sudan Liberation Army is one of two groups that launched a rebellion early last year to demand greater autonomy. Fighting has intensified in the last three months after a government-backed militia began what refugees have described as a scorched earth campaign.

The United Nations and human rights groups have reported widespread atrocities in Darfur, which is home to a fifth of Sudan's 30 million people. Government officials have denied the allegations that their militia was involved.