Aid workers killed in Darfur convoy attack

Two local workers for the UK charity Save the Children have been killed in an attack on their convoy in south Darfur blamed on Sudanese rebels.

Two local workers for the UK charity Save the Children have been killed in an attack on their convoy in south Darfur blamed on Sudanese rebels.

The charity is providing relief to more than 300,000 of the 1.6 million people forced from their homes by a 22-month-old rebellion in Darfur. It suspended relief work in the region while the killings were investigated by the African Union.

Sudanese nationals Abhakar el Tayeb, a medical assistant, and Yacoub Abdelnabi Ahmed, a mechanic, were in a convoy of clearly marked humanitarian vehicles when they came under fire on the main road north of Nyala. Save the Children operates a feeding centre and medical clinics in the area.

Ken Caldwell, the charity's director of international operations, said: "We deplore this brutal killing of humanitarian workers in Darfur."