"An SAF (northern army) patrol was attacked on Sunday by joint forces of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and (Minni) Minnawi's branch of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) in north Darfur," army spokesman Sawarmi Khaled Saad told AFP.

"The fighting resulted in a number of casualties and people injured from both sides, but we don't have the details yet. SAF destroyed 10 of their vehicles."

JEM, the most heavily-armed of the Darfur rebel groups, said in a statement late Monday that the army had attacked the Sagor area, northwest of El-Fasher,with Antonov aircraft, MiG fighter planes and around 180 land vehicles.

"The SAF have now withdrawn and the area is fully under our control,"he added.