Rebels in Sudan's South Kordofan said on Tuesday they acted in self-defense by firing artillery against the state capital, a rare barrage which the governor reported killed six people."They are provoking us," Arnu Ngutulu Lodi, front man for the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), told AFP.
He said Monday's attack followed government shelling and aerial bombardment of rebel positions, which was continuing Tuesday.
Sudan's army front man could not be immediately reached to comment.
"The current military activities for the SPLM-N are a mere action of self-defense in front of the huge NCP government dry season offensive preparations," Lodi said, referring to the ruling National Congress Party.
The United Nations
...Parkinson's Law on an international scale...
, which condemned what it called an indiscriminate and reprehensible attack, said one shell landed in the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) compound but failed to explode.
South Kordofan Governor Ahmed Haroun, quoted by the official SUNA news agency, said six women and kiddies were killed and 22 people were maimed.
The U.N. said it was unclear if civilians had been hurt.