The Sudanese army said on Tuesday that 14 soldiers have been killed by rebels in a clash in the western Sudanese region of Darfur.

Army spokesman Brigadier Uthman al-Agbash told reporters that the 14 soldiers were killed Monday when repelling a rebel attack in north Darfur, adding the army troops forced the insurgents to escape the area "leaving behind huge losses of material and human resources."

Meanwhile, the joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID) confirmed there had been fighting in the area east of the capital of north Darfur of El Fasher.

"We will be sending an investigation team to the area no later than tomorrow," said UNAMID spokesman Noureddine Mezni.

Also in the day, Sudanese Minister of Justice Abdul-Basit Sabdarat announced that trails at special courts would be held next week for suspects involved in a rebel attack at Omdurman area in northwestern Khartoum last month.

Sabdarat disclosed that 83 documents including names of the involved and their networks had been prepared, adding that the National Security and Intelligence Organ has detected some of the networks whose members would be brought before courts.

"The trials will be just and prompt," the minister said, noting that "no guilty person will escape punishment as no innocent one will be punished with the crime of another."

The minister said the Sudanese government began adoption of procedure to retrieve 20 of the leaders of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) through the Interpol, the international police agency.

A number of countries had shown cooperation in this regard and closed down offices of the rebel movement, he said.

The Sudanese government thwarted the attack launched by the JEM rebels at Omdurman on May 10, killing and capturing hundreds of members of the rebel group, which is believed to be the most powerful among dozens of rebel factions in Darfur.

(Xinhua News Agency June 11, 2008)