15 killed in armed attacks in western Sudan

KHARTOUM, Nov 11 (AFP) — Unidentified gunmen have killed 15 people and wounded many others in four separate attacks in Sudan’s western province of Darfur, a Sudanese electronic newspaper reported Tuesday.

The report on the privately-owned website Sudanile quoted an MP from the region, Bashir Ibrahim Yahyah. He did not specify the dates of the attacks nor the identity of the gunmen.

Authorities here had no comment on the report.

The last such attacks in the region, last week, were attributed by the Sudanese press to Arab militias known as Janjaweed.

The Sudanese regime has said it stopped supporting these militias but that they had run out of control.

Khartoum initially backed them to fight a Darfur rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), which demands a better economic deal for the neglected region.

The Khartoum government and the SLM on November 5 decided to extend a ceasefire agreed in September for another 10 days while they pursue negotiations in neighbouring Chad.