Sudan admits killing 26 civilians in air strike

KHARTOUM, Sept 10 (AFP) — A Sudanese official said a government warplane killed 26 civilians in western Sudan last month after it mistakenly identified them as rebel forces, a newspaper reported Wednesday.

The governor of West Darfur State, Major General Suleiman Abdallah, told the independent Al-Ayam newspaper that Defence Minister Bakri Hassan Salih set up a committee to investigate the incident in the Habeela area.

Another 32 people were also wounded in the attack carried out by an air force plane, said the governor, who was interviewed in the state capital Al-Ginaina.

Abdallah also said the government has decided to pay blood money to the families of those killed, in line with Islamic law, and that the first portion of the compensation has already been paid. The sum was not reported.

The newspaper report was the first time the incident had been made public in Khartoum.

A conflict has raged in Sudan’s western Darfur region since February.

Rebels calling themselves the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) say they are fighting for an end to marginalization and neglect of the large, impoverished region by central authorities.

SLM leaders have say hundreds of civilians have been killed in the fighting.

The Sudanese government announced last week that it and the SLM had signed a six-week ceasefire at a meeting in Chad. The ceasefire took effect Saturday, but the rebels have accused government troops of violating it.

The SLM is not included in the framework of peace talks aimed at ending Khartoum’s 20-year-old civil war with the southern rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army.