SPLM-N launches attacks against Sudanese army positions in Blue Nile state
November 24, 2014 (KHARTOUM) – The rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-M) said on Sunday it had launched two attacks on the positions of the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) in Blue Nile state.
SPLM-N spokesperson Arnu Ngutulu Lodi said in a statement posted on his Facebook page the attacks came in response to SAF’s aerial bombing of the towns of Yabous and Shali in southern Blue Nile state.
He added that SPLM-N forces attacked SAF’s garrison in the town of Bok in central Blue Nile state and destroyed a four-wheel army vehicle.
Lodi stressed they also attacked another garrison which lies 30 km south of the state capital Damazin, killing four soldiers, saying one of their soldiers was wounded in the attack and another is missing.
However, SAF spokesperson, Colonel al-Sawarmi Khalid Sa’ad, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that these statements are “absolutely untrue”, stressing that SAF attacked rebels position at Yabous town in southern Blue Nile state.
In October, the Blue Nile Centre for Human Rights and Peace (BNCHRP) said it monitored movements and intensive preparations from SAF in the Blue Nile state, stressing the latter massed troops in Dandro, about 65 kilometers Damazin, and was heading towards Kurmuk.
Last week, the African mediation team announced the adjournment of the seventh round of talks between the Sudanese government and the SPLM-N on the Two Areas in Addis Ababa, saying there is a need to better prepare the framework agreement.
The Blue Nile and South Kordofan’s conflict erupted months apart from each other in 2011 when Sudan attempted to forcibly disarm SPLM-N fighters it accuses of being backed by their brother-in-arms in the South Sudanese army.
(ST)