Armed men attack UN office in Darfur, wound guard

GENEVA, June 13 (Reuters) Four armed men in military uniforms attacked an office of the UN refugee agency in Habila, in Sudan's western Darfur, wounding a guard, a spokeswoman for the agency said today.

The gang shot the guard in the leg before escaping with telecommunications equipment. No one else was hurt, Jennifer Pagonis, a spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) told journalists.

It was not known whether the attackers were criminals, members of one of the rebel groups or of one of the pro-government militias rife in Darfur.

Habila, some 95 km (60 miles) south of the western Darfur capital of El Geneina, hosts some 2,000 refugees who have fled military and bandit activity along the Sudan-Chad border.

Tens of thousands have been killed and more than 2.5 million people have been herded into camps during the violence in Darfur over the past three years.

REUTERS SHB RS1710