Unidentified gunmen shot and wounded three peacekeepers, two critically, from the joint African Union-United Nations mission in Darfur (UNAMID) in an attack on Saturday in the war-ravaged region on the western flank of the Sudan.

The police unit came under fire near Zalingei, West Darfur, while escorting a UNAMID garbage truck. The armed men stole the police vehicle and escaped.

This is the second attack on UNAMID in a week and the mission repeated its appeal to the Government in Khartoum to hasten its investigation of these incidents and help bring them to and end. UNAMID has also launched its own probe into the incident.

Since January 2008, the Mission has been trying to quell the violence in Darfur, where an estimated 300,000 people have been killed and 2.7 million others displaced as a result of conflict pitting rebels against Government forces and allied Janjaweed militiamen since 2003.

So far more than a dozen military personnel and police have been killed as a result of hostile attacks in the region.

In addition, two of UNAMID's civilian staff members were abducted from their home in the West Darfur town of Zalingei at the end of August and have not yet been released.