20091205

KHARTOUM, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- Three soldiers of the United Nations and African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) were killed and two others seriously injured in an attack by unknown gunmen in the restive Sudanese region of Darfur, the hybrid peacekeeping mission said in a statement Saturday.

Three land cruiser pick-ups, with a UNAMID platoon of 20 Rwandan peacekeepers on board, were attacked by a group of unknown armed men in Saraf Umra when escorting a water tanker Friday, the statement said.

Two Rwandan soldiers were shot dead at the scene and a third one died later, while two soldiers were seriously wounded and taken to el-Fasher, the capital city of the North Darfur state.

The UNAMID Rwandan team, which arrived in the area less than two weeks ago, returned fire with restraint due to the presence of civilians.

"The UNAMID condemns in the strongest terms this criminal attack against its forces and calls on the government of Sudan to identify the perpetrators, arrest them and bring them to justice," the statement said.

The incident brought the death toll of UNAMID peacekeepers to 20 since the mission assumed its tasks in Darfur in January 2008.