The prosecutor at the International Criminal Court at The Hague on Thursday requested arrest warrants for rebel leaders allegedly responsible for attacks last year on peacekeepers in Sudan's Darfur region. They are the first warrants ever requested for the killing of peacekeepers, an ICC spokeswoman said. Such an act constitutes a war crime.

"I will not let such attacks go unpunished," ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said Thursday.

The attacks happened in September 2007 when a thousand rebel-led soldiers surrounded and stormed an African Union peacekeeping base in Haskanita, in southern Darfur, the ICC said. Twelve peacekeepers were killed and eight were wounded in the overnight attack, the deadliest single attack on AU peacekeepers since they began their mission in late 2004.

Moreno-Ocampo determined there were reasonable grounds to believe that rebel commanders bore criminal responsibility for the attacks. The warrants cover three counts of alleged war crimes for murder, intentionally directing attacks on personnel and objects involved in a peacekeeping mission, and pillaging.

"They planned, led their troops and directed the attack which killed 12 peacekeepers, severely wounded eight others, and completely destroyed [African Union] facilities and property, directly affecting aid and security for millions of people of Darfur who are in need of protection," the prosecutor said.