Gunmen kill 3 peacekeepers in Darfur ambush

Cairo: A spokesman for the peacekeeping force in Darfur says gunmen have killed three Rwandan soldiers in an ambush in the western Sudanese region.

Kemal Saiki says the ambush took place on Friday near a market and a government checkpoint in the northern town of Saraf Umra. Saiki says the force fired back, wounding an assailant, but the attackers escaped.

He said on Saturday that the identities of the gunmen were unknown.

The attack brings to 20 the number of peacekeepers killed since the United Nations and African Union deployed the troops in January 2008.

Violence has decreased in recent months in Darfur, where war broke out in 2003 between Sudanese government forces and ethnic African rebels. The conflict killed up to 300,000 people.