Darfur militia ambush kills 7 peacekeepers

By Opheera McDoom

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Darfur militiamen ambushed and killed seven members of a joint U.N.-African Union (UNAMID) peacekeeping mission and wounded 22 others, the United Nations said on Wednesday.

The UNAMID soldiers and police were ambushed on a routine patrol by about 40 vehicles full of armed militia in North Darfur on Tuesday, UNAMID spokeswoman in Sudan Shereen Zorba told Reuters.

It was not immediately clear if the militias were government allies.

At the United Nations in New York, spokeswoman Michele Montas said the attack lasted two hours and the assailants used heavy weapons. UNAMID forces returned fire, Zorba said.

It was the worst direct attack on UNAMID forces since they began work on December 31.

"The secretary-general condemns in the strongest possible terms this unacceptable act of extreme violence against AU-U.N. peacekeepers in Darfur," Montas said, urging the Sudanese government to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Darfur's main rebel groups, including the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the Sudan Liberation Movement Unity faction, denied any involvement.

"We, as JEM, from our side strongly condemn this kind of behavior from any group which is against international law," said JEM deputy chief of staff Suleiman Sandal.

"We cooperate with the hybrid force at all times."

Sudan's army said it had no relation to the attack.

HOSTILE

France, which holds the rotating EU presidency, condemned the attack and called on all sides to cooperate to establish who was responsible.

There was confusion over the number of dead for several hours. Sudan's state news agency SUNA had earlier reported that five peacekeepers were killed in an attack in the western Sudanese region and 17 were missing.

Zorba said: "The final confirmation is seven killed, 22 injured. No one is missing. Everyone has been accounted for."

Arab militias mobilized by Khartoum to quell a revolt by non-Arab rebels in 2003 have been hostile to the U.N. troops in the past fearing they could arrest anyone indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes.