U.N. Says Gunmen Wound Two Peacekeepers in Darfur

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Two peacekeepers were wounded when gunmen opened fire on their patrol in Sudan's troubled Darfur region, the U.N. said Thursday, two weeks after three of their colleagues were killed.

The soldiers were wounded when unidentified attackers shot at them as they collected water in the Kutum district of North Darfur state on Wednesday, the joint United Nations African Union mission told AFP.

The troops returned fire and the casualties were "evacuated to El Fasher for treatment" in the state capital, UNAMID press officer Guiomar Pau said.

It was unclear who the attackers were, she said, or whether any were hit by the return fire.

The U.N. did not confirm the nationality of the wounded peacekeepers, but most of its forces in Kutum are South African.

UNAMID was deployed in late 2007 to help end bloodshed among militias, rebel forces and gangs in Darfur.

Three Ethiopian peacekeepers were killed on October 16 as they guarded a well in Karma in North Darfur.

Violence in Darfur which UNAMID has attributed to government-linked forces, rebel offensives and inter-communal fighting has risen this year to its worst level in a decade.

More than 300,000 people have been killed in some 11 years of conflict in the region, with another two million displaced, the U.N. says.

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