KHARTOUM, July 6 (Xinhua) -- A Russian-made Antonov cargo plane crashed in the western Sudanese region of Darfur on Monday and a pilot was injured in the accident, a spokesman of the hybrid United Nations and African Union (UNAMID) peacekeeping forces said.

    Nureddin Mazani, a UNAMID spokesman, told Xinhua in Khartoum that the Antonov plane, belonging to a local airline company and chartered by the peacekeeping mission, crashed when landing at the area of Saraf Umra, about 250 kilometers from the city of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur.

    Mazani said an investigation was underway to identify the causes of the accident.

    The UNAMID was established in 2005 to monitor the implementation of the ceasefire reached between the Sudanese government and more than two dozens of rebel groups, which claimed a marginalization of the region by the central government.

    But the peacekeeping mission has being suffering a lack of human resources and logistic support since it was deployed in the war-torn region.