BANGUI, Sept 29, 2008 (AFP) - A rebel group in Central African Republic seized control of a village near the Sudanese border in the north of the country overnight, police said Monday.

Around 20 armed men took over Am Dafok, 70 kilometres (43 miles) east of Birao, which was defended only by 'four or five policemen' in an attack that resulted in no casualties, policeman Mathurin Gerard said.

'It is impossible for the Central African army to intervene quickly. The roads are impassable because of heavy rain,' Gerard said from his Birao station, where troops from the EU's peacekeeping mission (EUFOR) also have a base.

Gerard said the rebels from the Forces for the Unification of the Central African Republic (FIRCA) were still in Am Dafok, but a local journalist at Radio Ndeke-Luka, based in Birao, said they had left the village early Monday.

The FIRCA are a new dissident group that split off from the rebel Union of Democratic Forces for the Rally (UFDR), police and media sources said.

They are led by Oumar Sobian, who has refused to accept the peace deal signed by UFDR head, Damane Zakaria, with President Francois Bozize in April 2007.

The agreement called for an immediate end to hostilities and grants amnesty for rebel fighters.

One of the world's poorest nations, the Central African Republic is plagued by insecurity in its northern territories, where rebels and bandits have been battling government troops since Bozize's election victory in 2005.