Government forces reportedly repulse rebel attack in Darfur

By Akhbar al-Yawm daily newspaper

KHARTOUM, Dec 26, 2003 — The [Sudanese] armed forces were able to repulse a deceptive attack carried out by a group belonging to Sudan Liberation Army [SLA] on Kolabsi town in Western Darfur State.

The governor of Western Darfur State, Brig Suleyman Abdallah Adam, in a telephone communication with Akhbar al-Yawm yesterday afternoon [25 December] from his HQ in Al-Jinena, said the rebel forces launched an attack at 3 p.m. [local time] on the town.

He said the rebels were confronted by our armed forces and inflicted heavy losses on them by capturing two land cruisers with all loads of weapons and destroyed another one.

He pointed out that the armed forces expelled the aggressors to outside the border [presumably with Chad] while scared and terrified.

Brig Suleyman said the attack showed the evil intention of the SLA and the Justice and Equality Movement forces in carrying out their sinful act to attack the innocent people in the region.

BBC Monitoring Middle East