KHARTOUM, May 10 (Xinhua) -- A cautious calm returned to the Sudanese capital at midnight following a fighting between the army troops and rebels coming from the restive western Sudanese region of Darfur, in which a number of the rebels were killed.

    Soldiers and policemen on armed personnel carriers and military vehicles were patrolling the streets while more troops were stationed along the main roads and important traffic points to safeguard the city.

    Due to the curfew imposed by the Sudanese authorities in Khartoum at 05:00 p.m. (1400 GMT), there were hardly any civilian cars could be seen on the streets.

    Omdurman and some other parts of the city were totally dark because of a power failure after the sunset.

    Governor of the Khartoum State Abdel Halim Ismail Al-Muta'afi announced that the curfew imposed on Khartoum is extended to 10:00a.m. instead of 06:00 a.m. defined in the previous curfew order.

    In a statement aired by the official Sudan TV station, Sudanese Minister of Interior Ibrahim Mahmoud Hamid announced that the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), the police and other regular forces repulsed the infiltrated mercenaries.

    He said that a number of the infiltrators, including their commander known as Mohamed Salih Garbo were killed in the fighting, which took place mainly at the Goldair area at the entrance of Shiryan Al-Shamal Road in Omdurman.

    "The casualties of the infiltrators are currently being counted and will be announced later," the minister said, urging the local residents to remain cautious and immediately inform the authorities about any outlaw group.

    The Sudan TV broadcasted pictures of the burnt vehicles and the bodies of the dead militants of the JEM, which is believed to have the most powerful armed forces amount over two dozens of rebel groups in Darfur.

    "If the JEM wanted to force the government to accepted the conditions it put forward for the resumption of the peace talks, it is doomed to failure," said an anonymous official at the Sudanese Foreign Ministry.

    The JEM, which terms itself as the biggest movement in Darfur, has refused to sit side by side with other rebel groups, some of them have a very small membership, on the negotiation table with the government, and demanded face-to-face talks with the government.

    This was the first time for the Darfur rebels to infiltrate the capital and launch attacks there since bloody conflict erupted in the western Sudanese region in February 2003.

    The Sudanese government said some 10,000 people had been killed in the past five years, while Western media claimed that the civilian casualties were more than 200,000, a figure which can not be officially verified.