Unexploded ordnance kill 13 people in South Kordofan
August 10, 2013 (KHARTOUM) – Unexploded ordnance and landmines killed 13 people and wounded 12 others in South and North Kordofan where the Sudanese army and rebel groups clashed recently, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Saturday.
The humanitarian agency said nine children were killed when unexploded ordnance (UXO) exploded in Umm Cham Cham village, 12km southeast of Abu Kershola. The blast also injured five others.
The children were playing with the UXO when it blew up.
During last May, the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and fighters from the Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF) clashed in and around Abu Kershola several times as the army attempted to dislodge the rebels who seized the area in by the end of April.
SAF which retook control of the area on 27 May, bombed rebel positions in the area.
OCHA’s weekly bulletin also reported the death of four people in Dilling, second important town in South Kordofan, “when a UXO exploded while they were farming”.
On 27 July, the Justice and Equality Movement attacked a military convoy on the Dilling–Kadugli road. The army said the ambushed troops were escorting fuel tankers of the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA).
Further, a landmine blast wounded seven people who were heading to Abu Zabad town in North Kordofan to Tamjoyah market, near the border with South Kordofan.
(ST)