Sudanese government forces fought off rebels attacking a town in the war torn western region of Darfur on Saturday.

Rebels attacked Abu Agoura in the al-Salam district in southern Darfur, looting property from citizens, a local government spokesman told SUNA. The army repelled the attack, he added.

The agency did not identify the rebel group. A spokesman for the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), the most powerful rebel group, could not be immediately reached.

Mainly African tribes took up arms against the Arab government of Sudan in 2003, accusing Khartoum of marginalizing the remote region.

The government sent troops and allied Arab tribes to quell the insurgency, unleashing a wave of violence which the United Nations estimates has killed hundreds of thousands of people.

The violence has subsided since a peak in 2003/2004 but fighting between insurgents and government forces has continued despite a large U.N. peacekeeping force in the area.

The International Criminal Court has indicted Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and also issued an arrest warrant for Defense Minister Abdel Raheem Muhammad Hussein for war crimes in Darfur.

Sudan has dismissed the charges as politically motivated and baseless.