The African Union says armed men in Darfur have attacked an AU peacekeeping base, killing at least 10 soldiers.
An AU spokesman, Nourredine Mezni says the assailants attacked the Haskanita base in southern Darfur late Saturday. He says several other soldiers were wounded in the attack, and dozens more are missing.
The spokesman says the killings represent the AU's "heaviest loss of life" in the western Sudanese region since the peacekeepers were deployed in 2004.
Sudan's army and Darfur rebel movements are blaming each other for the attack.
The AU peacekeeping force of seven-thousand has been ineffective in stopping the rampant violence in Darfur. The United Nations and African Union are due to send an additional 19-thousand troops and police to Darfur next year to bolster the mission.
Darfur has endured more than four years of fighting between rebel groups, militias, and the Sudanese government. The violence has killed an estimated 200-thousand people and driven more than two million others from their homes.
Peace talks aimed at stopping the violence are scheduled to begin in Libya October 27th.