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| Africa Horn | |
| 12 killed as Darfur rebels clash with army | |
| 2012-02-25 | |
| KHARTOUM: Rebels in Sudan’s Darfur region have clashed with government forces, both sides said, with the rebels claiming to kill a dozen government soldiers and Khartoum accusing its opponents of targeting civilians. One of the region’s main rebel groups, a faction of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) led by Minni Minnawi, attacked Alawna, an area south of the North Darfur state capital El-Fasher, on Wednesday evening , SLA spokesman Adam Salih said. The insurgents killed 12 government soldiers including a regional commander and captured weapons such as mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and Kalashnikov rifles, he said. “The (government) force was completely defeated, and its remnants were scattered toward El-Fasher,” Salih said. Sudan’s state media reported that fighting had broken out in Alawna on Wednesday, but said the rebels had killed six civilians and wounded four others. State news agency SUNA quoted a military official from the region as accusing the rebels of burning homes and “terrorizing innocent, unarmed civilians.” The report did not mention any government casualties. The rebels denied targeting civilians in the attack. Last year, Khartoum signed a peace deal with an umbrella of smaller rebel groups, but Minnawi’s faction of the SLA and the other major insurgent groups refused to sign. Minnawi’s SLA signed a peace accord with Khartoum in 2006, but later returned to fighting.
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| Posted by:Steve White |