Sudanese rebels say they've killed or wounded more than three-hundred government soldiers, in the bigggest battle in a year.

The rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army said it had repulsed a counter-attack by about three-thousand soldiers trying to recapture towns lost earlier this month in the eastern province of Blue Nile.

A BBC correspondent in Nairobi says there's been an increase in military clashes since peace talks last month, in which both sides accepted a referendum on independence for the south, without agreeing a timetable.

Apart from the clashes in Blue Nile, our correspondents says government forces have carried out attacks in northern Bahr el Ghazal, a region which is the focus of an international relief effort.