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| Africa Horn |
| 18 killed in Sudan attacks S. Sudan army base |
| 2011-11-12 |
| [Daily Nation (Kenya)] South Sudan's army on Friday said a cross-border attack by Sudanese troops on a military base left 18 fighters dead and 73 maimed, as the UN warned that Sudanese air raids on a southern refugee camp could be an "international crime". Relations between Sudan and its newly-independent southern neighbour appear to have deteriorated sharply this week, due to fighting either side of the new international frontier that has prompted an angry exchange of accusations. The Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) said the ground attack in Upper Nile state took place on Thursday, when the northern army also bombed the Yida refugee camp in nearby Unity state and another location in Upper Nile, according to southern officials. "There has been fighting in Kuek after an attack on our base by Sudanese armed forces (SAF) and mercenaries" that started at 9:00 am (0600 GMT) on Thursday and lasted seven hours, SPLA front man Philip Aguer told AFP. "On our side, five were killed and 26 were maimed and on the side of the attackers, 13 bodies were counted on the ground and they have 47 maimed," Aguer said, claiming they used mortars, AK-47 assault rifles and heavy machineguns. "We repulsed the attack, and the attackers were driven back to the Republic of Sudan, on the border with White Nile state," Aguer said, adding that more incursions were expected in South Sudan's oil-producing region. President Salva Kiir claimed, in a speech on Thursday, that South Sudan's former civil war enemy was trying to drag the new country back to war and seize its oil fields. |
| Posted by:Fred |