Sudanese government defeats rebels, source says

(CNN) -- The Sudanese government said Saturday that it had defeated members of a rebel group in fighting outside the capital of Khartoum, and Sudanese television broadcast pictures of dead rebel fighters and torched vehicles, said sources in the northern Darfur town of El Fasher.

Earlier, a military source said Justice and Equality Movement rebels had reached the Khartoum suburb of Omdurman and were involved in clashes west of there.

It was not known how many JEM members were involved or how well they were armed. Over the past 24 hours, the source said, the sounds of heavy fighting -- machine-gun fire and explosions -- could be heard west of Khartoum.

An Associated Press reporter in Khartoum said government forces closed bridges leading to the city of Omdurman, and armored vehicles and heavily armed security forces were patrolling the capital.

The government imposed a curfew in Khartoum from 5 p.m. to 6 a.m., and aid agencies told their workers living in the capital to stay indoors.

Sudan's interior minister appeared on television, telling residents that government troops were in control and restoring order in Omdurman.

"We ask the citizens to stay in the homes until 10 tomorrow morning so our armed forces can track down and arrest these individuals who disguised themselves in uniforms and disappeared in the houses," Interior Minister Ibrahim Mahmoud Hamid said. "We ask you to assist us with any information you have so we can arrest them and crush these renegade forces. Any hand that will reach out to Sudan with harm will be cut off."

It was not immediately known whether there were civilian casualties.

"There are prisoners and destroyed vehicles, and they are approximately 40 vehicles, many killed," Hamid said.

An additional curfew was imposed across the Darfur region from 7 p.m. until 7 a.m., a measure that took many by surprise. Some U.N. staffers were unable to leave their compound to get home.

The U.S. State Department spoke out against JEM on Saturday, condemning the group and calling for an immediate end to the fighting.

"These actions undermine the ongoing efforts of the international community to support resolution of the conflicts in Sudan," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack on Saturday.

He said the United States "warns both sides against taking retaliatory action based on ethnicity or tribe."

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon expressed similar concerns. "He condemns strongly the use of armed force and military means by JEM for the achievement of political ends and calls for an immediate cessation of fighting and a renewed commitment to a peaceful resolution of outstanding issues," a spokesman said.

Officials said the concern in Darfur was how JEM members would react to the broadcasts of the dead rebel leaders. But a CNN crew in El Fasher was told that calm had been restored in Khartoum.

Video footage from outside the capital showed a sky blackened by smoke from burning vehicles as throngs of onlookers crowded the streets. Watch a report on the fighting »

Mohammed Al-Bily, who lives near Khartoum, said that witnesses fleeing the fighting told him it started in a marketplace and that the fighting destroyed a police station and the electric company. Some people from the police station hid in his neighborhood.

He said the curfew was announced on the radio, and his relatives reported that the military was occupying bridges to prevent the fighting from reaching Khartoum.

"These forces are rogue forces, and they want to spread violence in Sudan in various cities," Hamid said. "We ask our dear citizens who are in the way of these runaways to be careful, and the national official forces will track them down."

JEM, a Darfur rebel group, has been fighting with the Sudanese government off and on for the past several years. Military analysts believe that it is one of the strongest rebel groups in Darfur. Its aim is to overthrow the government of Sudan.

The Sudanese government says the Chadian government is offering support to JEM.

Sudan suffered through a 22-year civil war that ended in 2005. Two million people died, and an estimated 4 million others were driven from their homes.

The war pitted a government dominated by Arab Muslims in northern Sudan against black Christians and animists in the south.

Copyright 2008 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

All About Sudan • Chad