Darfur Ambush

KHARTOUM, Sudan — Dozens of men on horseback armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades ambushed Nigerian peacekeepers serving with the joint U.N.-African Union force in Darfur, though no casualties were reported, the U.N. said. About 50 to 60 armed men dressed in military camouflage on Wednesday afternoon ambushed the peacekeepers along the new airport road near El Geneina in West Darfur state, the U.N.-AU mission known as UNAMID said in a statement Thursday. They stole rifles, ammunition, telephones and cash. The United Nations peacekeeping chief warned last week of an alarming increase in violence in Darfur that has spread to the Sudanese capital Khartoum and could escalate further. The conflict that began in 2003 has already killed as many as 300,000 people, the U.N. says. The U.N.-AU force took over peacekeeping duties in the western Sudanese region of Darfur in January from a beleaguered AU force. It only has about 7,500 troops and fewer than 2,000 police on the ground, although a total of 26,000 have been authorized.