URGENCY
Experts estimate 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million driven from their homes as mostly non-Arab rebels in Darfur took up arms in early 2003 accusing the government of neglect. Khartoum mobilised mainly Arab militias to quell the revolt.
The AU mediated a peace agreement between the Sudanese government and Darfur rebels in May 2006 but only one of three rebel negotiating factions signed the deal. Since then, rebels have split into a dozen factions.
The violence, which includes militias and tribal conflicts, has severely curtailed the world's largest aid operation.
Saturday's attack casts a shadow on AU-U.N.-mediated talks due to begin in Libya on Oct. 27. Condemnation of the attacks came in from around the world.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said the violence underscored the urgency of the AU-UN mission.
"Obviously what the president (George W. Bush) wants is that U.N. peacekeeping force to get there as soon as possible because we are committed to ending the violence and providing assistance to the people who are suffering there in Darfur," she said.
Suleiman Jamous of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) Unity faction, one of two groups accused of the attack, said if his faction was involved it was a local - not leadership - decision.
"I have asked the leadership of SLA Unity to withdraw all the troops from the area, to where they can be under the direct control of the military command," Jamous said.
SLA Unity and a breakaway faction of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) led by Bahr Idriss Abu Garda have forces in the Haskanita area.
SLA Unity political head Abdallah Yehya denied any of his forces were involved, blaming militias allied to the army.
"All my forces are now far away from the area. This was the government and militias," he told Reuters.
The attack preceded a visit of "elders" to Sudan, including South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, ex-U.S. President Jimmy Carter, veteran peace mediator Lakhdar Brahimi and women's and children's rights advocate Graca Machel. On Monday they met Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.
