China's Foreign Ministry says four Chinese workers have been abducted in Sudan's North Darfur region by unidentified gunmen.

Monday's statement says the men are employees of the China Railway 18th Bureau Group who were building a road in North Darfur just outside the regional capital of El-Fasher.

Sudan's state news agency SUNA has blamed the abduction on a Darfur rebel movement, but it stopped short of naming which group.

The news agency has reported that five Sudanese were also abducted along with the four Chinese workers, among them drivers and engineers.

The government says it dispatched 18 military vehicles to pursue the abductors.

China is a major oil buyer from Sudan and invests heavily there.