Sudan gov't vows to pursue attackers of UNAMID patrol in Darfur

Sudanese government on Thursday vowed to pursue the perpetrators who attacked a patrol belonging to the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) in the country's Darfur region, which left four UNAMID peacekeepers killed and eight others injured. "The (Sudanese) government is determined to carry out a thorough investigation on the ambush against a patrol belonging to UNAMID," said a statement by Darfur Peace Follow-up Office at the Presidency of the Republic. The statement expressed Sudan government's condemnation of the treacherous attack against the UNAMID peacekeepers. UNAMID on Wednesday announced that four of its peacekeepers were killed and eight others injured by gunmen in an ambush in Sudan's Darfur region. It said unidentified gunmen opened fire on a UNAMID patrol late Tuesday about 2 km away from their base in El Geneina town, the capital of West Darfur State. Four members of the Nigerian battalion were killed and eight others were injured, the mission noted. UNAMID took over the peacekeeping mission in Darfur from the African Union Mission in Sudan on Dec. 31, 2007. The mission was planned to deploy 26,000 members of military and police to protect civilians in the region, who have been suffering from a civil war since 2003. The UNAMID peacekeepers have been attacked repeatedly by unidentified groups in the restive region, which already resulted in the deaths of 38 soldiers since the deployment of the mission in early 2008. UNAMID chief Ibrahim Gambari has earlier instructed the peacekeepers to respond vigorously to the attackers in self- defense and according to the rules of engagement.