UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - A landmine on Tuesday killed four Ethiopian UN peacekeepers and badly wounded seven others on patrol in the disputed Sudanese territory of Abyei, the UN said. Most of the 4,200 Ethiopian troops in Abyei have been in the territory on the border between north and South Sudan for less than a week. The Khartoum government, whose forces had occupied the village where the explosion occurred, has signed the Ottawa treaty banning the use of anti-personnel mines. A UN peacekeeping spokesman said the seven injured had been airlifted to Kadugli, the main city in the Sudanese state of South Kordofan where there is a UN hospital. The landmine detonated in the village of Mabok, which is southeast of the territory's main town of Abyei. The village had been occupied by north Sudanese forces. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he was "saddened" by the deaths.