Five African Union soldiers killed in Darfur

Unidentified gunmen killed five African Union soldiers guarding a "water point" near the border with Chad in the deadliest attack on the peacekeepers since their deployment in 2004, an AU spokesman said today.

Noureddine Mezni, said the attackers fled after AU troops killed three of them in an exchange of fire.

The death toll in yesterday's attack took to 16 the number of AU peacekeepers killed since the AU force arrived in Darfur nearly three years ago. An AU officer has also been kidnapped and held hostage since December when he was abducted in Darfur.

Mezni said the AU troops retrieved the bodies of the three attackers along with their weapons, which he said were being examined in a bid to determine their identity.