KHARTOUM: Gunmen killed three peacekeepers in the war-torn Darfur region of western Sudan in a "brutal" attack on Monday, an official of the joint UN-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) said.
The United Nations said the three soldiers were Rwandans.
"This morning in the Nertiti area of West Darfur, civil engineering workers with the mission were working at a base, under the supervision of protection elements," Kemal Saiki, the peacekeeping force’s communications head, told AFP.
"Brutally and without warning, about 20 men armed with AK47s (automatic weapons) opened fire at our troops… Three peacekeepers were killed and one was seriously wounded," needing to be hospitalised by helicopter, he said.
The UNAMID soldiers fired back, sparking a one-hour gunbattle during which three assailants were also killed before the gunmen fled, stealing an all-terrain vehicle, Saiki added.
"We have no indication of the identity of the attackers. They were dressed in camouflage uniforms."
Monday’s deaths bring to 27 the number of UNAMID members killed in Darfur since the force was deployed there in January 2008.
UNAMID, which urged the Sudanese authorities to bring the assailants to justice, is the UN’s largest mission, with more than 20,000 soldiers and police deployed in Darfur.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the attack and urged the government to find the killers.
"Three UNAMID military personnel were killed and another wounded in the resulting exchange of fire," Ban’s spokesman said in a statement. "All UNAMID casualties were from Rwanda.
"The Secretary-General deplores these attacks on peacekeepers in Darfur and calls on the government of Sudan to continue to make every effort to apprehend the perpetrators and bring them to justice immediately."
The UNAMID peacekeeping mission earlier expressed "outrage at this act of wanton violence," in a statement.
"Our mission will continue to carry out its mandate, which is to bring peace and security to the people of Darfur," it quoted UNAMID’s deputy joint special representative, Mohamed B. Yonis, as saying.
Nertiti borders Jebel Marra, a stronghold of the rebel Sudan Liberation Army faction of Abdelwahid Nur, and nearby areas that have witnessed fierce fighting between rival tribes.
The surge in violence in the western Sudanese region cost almost 600 lives in May, the highest monthly death toll since the peacekeepers were deployed, according to UNAMID.
Darfur has since 2003 been the scene of an armed revolt against the Arab-dominated Sudanese government to secure a greater share of resources and power.
The United Nations says 300,000 people have been killed in the conflict and more than 2.2 million have fled their homes. The Khartoum government puts the death toll at 10,000.
