UN peacekeepers of the joint African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) stand guard on January 16, at the UNAMID headquarters in El-Fasher in North Darfur. One peacekeeper was killed and three wounded on Saturday in an ambush in Sudan's troubled Darfur region, the joint African Union-United Nations Mission to the region (UNAMID) said. (AFP Photo/Ian Timbarlake)
(AFP)--Gunmen ambushed a UN-African Union peacekeeping patrol in Sudan's conflict-stricken Darfur region on Saturday, killing one Nigerian soldier and wounding three, the UN said.
UN leader Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned the attack on the patrol in South Darfur and called on the Sudanese government to carry out a speedy investigation.
The joint UN-AU Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) said the attack was staged around midday, some 60 kilometres (35 miles) northwest of El Daein in South Darfur.
"We don't know who was behind it," Christopher Cycmanick, a spokesman for the mission, told AFP.
He said one of the three wounded was in serious condition.
More than 30 peacekeepers have been killed in Darfur since the UN-AU mission started in 2007.
UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said the dead soldier was Nigerian in a statement in which he said Ban "condemns in the strongest terms the ambush by an unidentified armed group."
"The secretary general urges the government of Sudan to carry out a speedy investigation and to ensure the perpetrators are brought to justice."
UNAMID head Ibrahim Gambari has called such attacks a war crime and said the Khartoum government should do "much more" to catch the perpetrators.
Darfur's African rebel groups rose up against the Arab-dominated Khartoum government in 2003.
The UN estimates that at least 300,000 people have died because of the conflict since then, with about 300 killed in armed clashes last year. The government puts the total number of dead at 10,000.
An estimated 1.9 million people are living in camps for those displaced by the conflict, the UN says.
The government last year signed in Doha a peace deal with an alliance of rebel splinter factions, but key rebel groups refused to sign.
Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide in Darfur.
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