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Bandits kill three U.N. drivers in Sudan


    KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Three drivers from the U.N. World Food Programme have been killed by bandits in separate attacks over the past week in Sudan's war-stricken western Darfur region and in its south, the agency said on Wednesday.

    The attacks highlight the security dangers in Sudan, wherethe world's biggest humanitarian operation is trying to copewith the crisis in Darfur while aid agencies are trying to helpthe south rebuild after decades of civil war.

    On Monday a driver working for WFP was shot dead and hisassistant seriously wounded in South Darfur state. On March 22,two drivers on their way to the oil-rich Abyei state werestabbed to death in south Sudan by six assailants, WFP said.

    In Darfur alone, the agency has had 56 trucks and sixpassenger vehicles hijacked this year and 24 drivers are stillmissing, the agency said.

    "We are extremely shocked and saddened by these incidents.This situation is completely unacceptable," the agency's headin Sudan, Kenro Oshidari, said in a statement.

    More than 12,000 humanitarian workers provide aid to aroundtwo-thirds of Darfur's population as a five-year-old rebelliondrags on. International experts put the death toll at 200,000although the Khartoum government says it is about 9,000.

    WFP said hijackings were rare in south Sudan, where a 2005north-south peace deal ended Africa's longest civil war.

    (Reporting by Opheera McDoom; Editing by Matthew Tostevin)