200 Darfur rebels killed in fresh attack: Sudan army

KHARTOUM (AFP) - The Sudanese army said it killed 200 rebels while repelling an attack in Darfur, the deadliest single military operation reported in the war-torn region since fighting started there four years ago.

The bloodshed came amid intensified efforts to reach an agreement on the deployment of UN peacekeepers in Darfur as Washington warned Khartoum had until year's end to accept or face coercive action.

In a statement quoted by the state-run SUNA news agency, the army also said that 20 of its troops were wounded during the fighting, which took place in northern Darfur on Wednesday.

The army charged that rebels from the National Redemption Front (NRF) attempted to launched an assault on the town of Kutum.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061221/wl_africa_afp/sudandarfurunresttoll_061221204156

It is a quotation from Sudanese government's mouthpiece. The '200 rebels' consisted of 199 unarmed civilians and one boy with a catapult.