"The casualties and material losses are still being counted, and the statistics will be announced as soon as they are completed," the Sudanese official said.

The Sudanese government announced on Saturday evening that the army and the police had crushed the attempt of the JEM rebels to infiltrate into the capital and carry out sabotage activities there, killing and capturing a number of infiltrators.

It was the first time for rebels in Darfur to enter Khartoum and launch attacks there since bloody conflicts erupted in the western Sudanese region neighboring Chad in February, 2003.

An anonymous source in the Sudanese Armed Forces told Xinhua that over 60 rebel militants were killed and some 120 others captured during the Saturday's fighting at Omdurman, which is the northern gate of the Sudanese capital.

The official SUNA news agency reported that more than 300 rebels had been arrested, and 60 vehicles seized or destructed by Sunday noon, noting that the military commander of the JEM, Jamal Hassan Jala-Eddin, was killed by the troops on the outskirts of Khartoum on Sunday.

The Sudanese army said that the operation for searching the remanent rebels who could be hiding at any place, asking local residents to inform if they find any suspected persons.

(Xinhua News Agency May 12, 2008)