A faction of the divided rebel Casamance movement on Thursday condemned a rebel attack on a Senegalese army post that killed several soldiers earlier this week.

The attack on Tuesday killed several soldiers in the southern province, a military source and a local lawmaker told AFP.

But the rebel Movement of Democratic Forces (MFDC) secretary general Jean-Marie Biagui slammed the attack, and other recent violence, as "absurd and irrational".

The army regularly carries out missions in Casamance, a province largely cut off from the rest of Senegal by the Gambia. A rebellion for independence began in 1982, but the MFDC has signed peace treaties in recent years, the latest in 2005.

Divisions within the MFDC have grown since the death in December 2007 of its elderly historic leader, Father Augustin Diamacoune Senghor, which made it more difficult to find a consensus figure to negotiate with the Dakar government. Talks have been announced and postponed several times.

Biagui said that on Saturday and Sunday, he would organise in Ziguinchor, the main town of the province, "a general assembly on the peace process in Casamance."

However, it was unclear on Thursday who would be attending this meeting, apart from Biagui and his supporters.