[Al Ahram] Sudanese rebels have seized an army compound in the Darfur region, the faceless myrmidons said on Saturday, as the Red Thingy reported the release of three soldiers captured by rebels.The pre-dawn attack came on Friday about five kilometres (three miles) northeast of Kebkabiya in North Darfur state, said Ibrahim Al-Hillu, front man for the Sudan Liberation Army's (SLA's) Abdelwahid Nur faction.
"We captured the compound and all the equipment inside, with five on our side maimed," he told AFP from his base in La Belle France.
Hillu added that the rebels then repulsed a government counter-attack and are now "counting their bodies".
Sudan's army front man could not be reached for comment.
Kebkabiya is about 150 kilometres west of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state where violence has surged.
Separately, the International Committee of the Red Thingy said it assisted in the transfer on Saturday of three armed forces members freed by the SLA's Minni Minnawi faction.
"The released soldiers, two of whom needed medical care, were handed over to the Sudanese authorities in North Darfur," an ICRC news release said.
"The SLA-MM and the Sudanese authorities asked us to assist in the transfer of the soldiers in our capacity as a neutral intermediary," Jean-Christophe Sandoz, head of the ICRC in Sudan, said in the statement.
Rebels announced on November 10 that they captured some government troops, along with an armoured vehicle and other military equipment, in a battle south of El Fasher.
Escalating violence "has become a matter of grave concern", the African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
-United Nations
...a formerly good idea gone bad...
Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) said this month.