October 30, 2008 (KHARTOUM) – One soldier was killed and another wounded Wednesday night during the tracking of the kidnappers of Chinese oil workers in south Darfur, said an army spokesman.

Three Chinese engineers and six other workers employed by the China National Petroleum Corporation in South Kordofan were kidnapped on October 18. Two were injured and five killed in alleged clashes with the kidnappers.

The director of the army spokesperson’s office, Al-Soarmi Khalid Saad, said Thursday that the army is continuing the rescue operation and the hunting of the kidnappers, but he said they have not achieved any progress.

Sudan blames the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) for the kidnapping, but JEM spokesman Ahmed Hussein Adam denied involvement and even Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ali al-Sadig admitted that the kidnappers were likely local tribesmen.

Sadig told Al Jazeera television that locals were provoked by "discriminatory employment policies" of oil firms in the area. The kidnappers are led by Abu Humaid Ahmed Dannay, a Misseriya tribesman who said the abduction was aimed at drawing attention to the lack of development in the region and the failure of oil companies operating there to help provide services or jobs for natives.

Sudanese authorities found on Wednesday the body of a fourth Chinese oil worker, twenty four hours after his killing with three others Tuesday in southern

The Misseriya were also blamed for the kidnapping of four Indian oil workers and their Sudanese driver in the same area in May. All five managed to escape or were released unharmed, the last one in July.

China sent a team of officials to Sudan on Thursday to help find the two oil workers still missing.

(ST)