Darfur rebels said they attacked a Chinese-run oil field in Sudan today and vowed to launch more assaults on other installations.
The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) said it defeated 1,200 government soldiers who were guarding the site in Sudan's energy-rich Kordofan region, neighbouring Darfur, and seized control of the installation.
The report was denied by Sudanese state media, which quoted an army spokesman as saying a small rebel attack on an oil camp had been repelled and that security forces remained in control of the area.
JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim said the group carried out its attack as part of a campaign to force Chinese oil companies to leave.
The insurgent group accuses Beijing of arming Khartoum and financing the government through oil revenues.
JEM seized five foreign oil workers in October in an attack on Kordofan's Defra oil field, run by a consortium led by China's CNPC - an attack that sparked alarm in Beijing, which has significant investments in Sudan's oil industry.