Sudanese warplanes on Monday bombed Darfur rebel positions near the key town of El-Fasher ahead of an expected ground offensive, an official from the Justice and Equality Movement told AFP.
"The Sudan air force has been bombing us this morning, east and west of El-Fasher. We have positions there," JEM spokesman Taher el-Faki said, adding that he expected "heavy fighting" later on Monday.
It was not immediately possible to confirm the attack with Sudanese officials or get casualty figures.
El-Fasher inhabitants contacted by telephone said that schools and government offices in the town, which is also home to the main UN-African Union (UNAMID) peacekeeping base, were closed on Monday
Last week JEM forces seized Muhajaria, south of El-Fasher, which had been controlled by ex-rebels from the Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA) faction of Minni Minawi, the only group to have signed a peace deal with Khartoum in 2006.
The town was bombed by Sudanese warplanes on Saturday, killing one civilian and severely wounding another, UNAMID spokesman Noureddine Mezni said.
JEM said that three civilians were killed in the fighting in Muhajaria.
The United Nations says that up to 300,000 people in Darfur have died and more than 2.2 million have been displaced since the uprising against Sudan's Arab-dominated government started in February 2003. Khartoum says 10,000 died.
The conflict has deteriorated with the emergence of a multiplying array of rebel groups, breakaway militias and bandits.
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