The Sudanese army on Friday acknowledged attacking forces of the Darfur Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM), a signatory to a peace deal with the Sudanese government, holding the movement responsible of being present at an area it does not belong to, Sudan's Ashrouq Net reported.

Sudan's Ashrouq Net reported.

"The army's attacking of an armed group at El-Sheikh area in North Darfur State comes within the context of performing its duty, " Ashrouq quoted Al-Sawarmy Khalid Saad, spokesman for the Sudanese army, as saying.

The LJM forces made a big mistake as they positioned themselves at an area which, according to a ceasefire committee, does not belong to them, said Saad.

"We have performed our duty by responding to an armed group reported about by the citizens of El-Sheikh village, west of El Fasher," he said.

Saad reiterated that what has happened would not affect the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD), a ceasefire committee signed between the government and the LJM in the Qatari capital last year, affirming the government's determination to implement the deal.

On Thursday, the LJM accused the Sudanese army of attacking its military units and threatened to withdraw from the agreement.

"The Sudanese army deliberately attacked the movement's forces on Wednesday near El Fasher, capital city of North Darfur State which resulted in the killing of two members of the movement," said Al-Tigani Sessei, LJM chairman, at a press conference Thursday.

"Our movements were known for the army, but we were surprised by this deliberate attack," he added.

Sessei criticized what he termed as "misleading campaign" by the Sudanese government to show that the Sudanese army's attack was against the forces of the Revolutionary Front, an alliance that brings together major Darfur armed movements which are rejecting the DDPD.

On Wednesday, Local Sudanese media reported that the Sudanese army clashed with a group belonging to the Revolutionary Front as they were trying to bombard El Fasher, and killed three of the group.

Violence escalated in the Darfur region during the past two months, which pushed the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) to express concerns over the mounting violence in the region and urge the conflicting parties to avoid whatever might threaten the fragile peace in the restive region.

Three Darfur rebel groups, the Justice and Equality Movement ( JEM), the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA)/Minni Minnawi faction, and the SLA/Abdul-Wahid Mohamed Nur faction, have been fighting the central government in Khartoum since 2003, and reject the DDPD.