KHARTOUM (AFP) Militiamen

backed by the Sudanese army

executed 16 members of the Zaghawa tribe in North Darfur after they tried to rescue their stolen livestock, in what could amount to a war crime, a rights groups said on Thursday. Around 100 militiamen raided four ethnic Zaghawa villages near Shangil Tobaya in North Darfur early on June 1, looting property and livestock, human rights group the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) said in a report.

A group of residents who managed to trap the militia and recover some of their stolen herds was apprehended by Sudanese troops in army uniform and militiamen supported by military aircraft as they returned to their villages, the report added. Nineteen of the Zaghawa group were then arrested and taken to another village nearby, where 16 them were executed by firing squad- The bodies were left exposed in open areas-