Sudanese armed forces attacks an unidentified plane for helping western rebels

KHARTOUM, Sudan, Aug 28, 2003 (AP) — Sudanese armed forces destroyed an aircraft Thursday as it was delivering western rebels with ammunition and other supplies, the army said.

Army spokesman Gen. Mohammed Basher Sulieman said in a statement that Sudanese forces spotted the plane supplying rebels from the Darfur Liberation Front near the town of Karnoi, about 200 kilometers (124 miles) west of the Darfur capital of al-Fasher.

Sulieman said the soldiers attacked the unidentified aircraft and destroyed it. It was unclear if there were any casualties. It was also unclear where the plane had come from or who had flown it to the area.

Last month, Sudanese forces seized a Russian helicopter over suspicions of involvement in a rebellion in the African country’s west.

In February, the Darfur Liberation Front attacked Sudanese troops in the Jabal Mara mountains and asked the government for the right of self-determination.

Tribes have been fighting each other for years in Darfur, a province that is home to a fifth of Sudan’s 30 million people and one of the least developed.