Rebels accuse Sudan army of killing 28 people in North Darfur

October 1, 2009 (PARIS) — Sudanese troops and militiamen killed 28 civilians in an attack carried against a rebel position northwest of Meilit in North Darfur, a rebel faction accused.

After a period of relative calm in the region, where more than six years of fighting has driven an estimated 2.7 million from their homes, the Sudanese troops carried out during September a series of attacks against the positions of rebel groups in North Darfur state.

The Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) led by Ahmed Abdel –Shafi said the government troops and militias transported in some 56 vehicles attacked near the mid-day of Tuesday their position near Moo.

Ahmed Abdel Safi told Sudan Tribune that the 4 helicopter gunships and two Antonov took part in the attack.

He added that the assailant force killed some 28 people among them nine children and the imam of the village. “There are some 2,000 people in the area, but most of them fled following the attack,” he said.

The rebel chief said the few buildings in the area as dispensary and school had been destroyed by the warplanes. “Also the militias looted goods and livestock of the villagers.”

Abdel Shafi, who is engaged in a reunification process with other rebel factions sponsored by the US envoy to Sudan, said their fighters repelled the assailants. However he didn’t provide any details of causalities from the both sides.

US experts Estimate that some 300,000 people died during the six-year conflict in Darfur but Khartoum government dismisses the figure saying only some 10,000 were killed.

(ST)