Sudan 'launches attack in Darfur'

The rebels say they are preparing to defend themselves

Sudan's government has launched a major offensive against rebel bases in the far north of Darfur, two rebel factions have said.

A commander from a faction of the Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA) said about 270 vehicles and 500 Janjaweed fighters were involved in the attack.

Nine rebels and nine civilians had been killed, he said.

An army spokesman declined to comment. The government has previously denied links to Janjaweed fighters.

A commander from the Abdul Wahed faction of the SLA, Sulieman Marajan, told the BBC that the Janjaweed had attacked on camel and horseback.

He said the attacks were part of a plan by the government to destroy all of the rebel bases in northern Darfur, adding that he believed rebels from neighbouring Chad were taking part in the operation.

Chad has accused Sudan of harbouring and supporting Chadian rebels. Analysts say the two countries are fighting a proxy war using each other's rebel forces.

Oil exploration

The Sudanese army now controlled the area around Wadi Atron, near the border with Libya, the SLA commander said.

A spokesman for a rival rebel group, the SLA's Unity faction, said rebels had been expecting an attack and were preparing to defend themselves.

The government was trying to clear the rebels out of the far north of Darfur so that Chinese companies could explore for oil, he said.

North Darfur is part of Sudan's oil Block 12A, operated by a consortium led by the Saudi Arabian company al-Qahtani, the BBC's Amber Henshaw reports from Sudan.

Sudan's oil ministry could not immediately confirm whether any exploration had begun in Block 12A.

Violence in Darfur began in 2003 when rebel groups complaining of discrimination against black Africans began attacking government targets.

The government mobilised what it called "self-defence militias" in response, but denies any links to the Janjaweed, accused of trying to "cleanse" black Africans from Darfur.

The UN estimates that more than 300,000 people have been killed and two million displaced during five years of fighting.