Darfur rebels down two choppers in Sudanese army attack

September 10, 2007 (PARIS) — Sudanese military aircraft bombed a rebel-held town in north Darfur on Monday, insurgent groups said, they also claimed to have repelled a ground attack and brought down two helicopters.

The raid on the small town of Haskanita in northern Darfur started at about 9 a.m. local time with heavy bombardments by Sudanese army planes and helicopter gunships, rebel reports said. Haskanita is held by a joint rebel force from Justice and Equality Movement and (JEM) Sudan Liberation Army – Unity faction

The two rebel groups said in a joint press release that “two helicopter fighters were shot down and over 70 military vehicles (..) were totally destroyed. They also captured 25 vehicles captured in useable from.

The rebel groups claimed they crushed the government troops, and captured the commander of the Sudanese army force, Brigadier General Kamal Aldin Abdalla Adam Abdel Mumin, Batch 30, Military No 5608, besides other government soldiers.

Reports of the attack came days after the visit of the UN Secretary General to Sudan and seven weeks before peace talks between Khartoum and rebel groups in Tripoli. It also coincided with renewed calls from the African Union and the United Nations for the two sides to cease hostilities and prepare for the arrival of a 26,000-strong force of U.N./African Union peacekeepers.

Air raids on Darfur are banned by the United Nations and in breach of several ceasefire agreements. Despite frequent accusations by the international community, Sudan’s military regularly denies it conducts air strikes, as was the case Monday.

An AU officer stationed in Haskanita confirmed to the Associated Press there had been full-fledged combat all day. The officer said the AU forces heard air bombardments and near constant gun battles. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

“I don’t know how many casualties there are, but the town took a strong hit,” the officer said.

He said AU peacekeepers did not intervene because they have been confined to their small compound in Haskanita since June due to violence in the area.

The Sudanese army denied it had launched any offensive on the town.

“This news is unfounded, we cannot confirm that there is any operation going on in the area,” the military spokesman’s office said in a telephone interview.

It was not clear whether the attack was in retaliation for a raid by the SLA-Unity and JEM on a government base in southern Kordofan at the end of the last August. However the rebels alleged that this attack targeted the leader of the rebel JEM, Khalil Ibrahim who met a AU-UN delegation 48 hours prior to the assault.

(ST)