No one was immediately available for comment from the rebels group named by the military -- a faction of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) loyal to Abdel Wahed al-Nur which walked out of peace talks in 2006 and has refused to return.[break]
Fighting has rumbled on for eight years in the remote western territory in the face of a string of failed ceasefires, international pressure and campaigns from celebrity activists.
"The Sudanese army was attacked by a force of Abdel Wahed in Rokoro Tuesday.
The army forced them to withdraw. About 15 of them were killed and two from the Sudanese army," said military spokesman Al-Sawarmi Khaled.
Khaled said the army had been taking military equipment to its base in Rokoro in Jabel Marra, a territory in the center of Darfur that is one of the main remaining strongholds of the SLA.
The mostly non-Arab rebel group launched the Darfur revolt alongside the insurgent Justice and Equality Movement in 2003, accusing Sudan´s government of starving the region of resources.
Sudan´s government mobilized troops and mostly Arab militias to crush the uprising.
The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Sudan´s president Omar Hassan al-Bashir, on charges of masterminding genocide and war crimes during the counter-insurgency campaign.
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