KHARTOUM (Reuters):

Ten African Union soldiers were killed and dozens were missing after armed men launched an assault on an AU base in Darfur, the worst attack on AU troops since they deployed in Sudan's violent west in 2004.

The AU called it a "deliberate and sustained" assault by some 30 vehicles, which overran and looted the peacekeepers' camp on Saturday night.

Sudan's army blamed Darfur rebels for the strike on the Haskanita base, which was mainly manned by Nigerian soldiers. One rebel commander said the raid was carried out by breakaway rebel forces who wanted vehicles, weapons and a seat at peace talks due to begin on October 27 in Libya.

"Reports (indicate) 10 killed and 50 missing in action with seven seriously injured," said AU spokesman Noureddine Mezni. Fifteen soldiers later appeared at a nearby AU base in Darfur, an AU source said, but around 25 were still missing.

Heaviest casualties

"Our camp is completely destroyed," he said, adding it was the heaviest casualties suffered since the AU mission deployed.

News of the violence drew swift and widespread condemnation.

"The secretary-general condemns in the strongest possible terms the recent attack on African Union peacekeepers in Haskanita, South Darfur, and calls for the perpetrators to be held fully accountable for this outra-geous act," the U.N. said in a statement.

The commander of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) rebel group, Abdel Azizel-Nur Ashr, said the attack was by breakaway JEM rebels.