Sudan's military has vowed to defeat rebels it accuses of killing two regional government officials and six other people in an ambush Friday, calling the killings “a treacherous act.”

Sudan's official SUNA news agency says rebels killed the speaker of South Kordofan state's legislative council, Ibrahim Balandiya, and the chief of its strategic planning council, Faisal Bashir.

The military blamed the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North, or SPLM-N, for the killings. the rebel group has denied involvement.

The rebels have been fighting Sudanese forces for more than a year in the states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile along the border with South Sudan. The rebels sided with the South during Sudan's 22-year civil war.