17-year-old gang raped by seven in North Darfur banditry

A gang of seven armed men in military uniforms riding camels and motor cycles, attacked the area of Khartoum Jadeed, north of Tabit in Tawila locality, North Darfur on Tuesday. In separate incidents on the same day, bandits beat and robbed passengers on the road from Saraf Omra to Meleisa, Saraf Omra on North Darfur. Another armed robbery was reported in Kordofan on the road from Abbasiya to Um Rawaba.

Listeners from Tawila locality told Radio Dabanga that the 17-year-old one was gang raped, and two people were injured when the seven attackers fired indiscriminately.

The rape victim, as well as to people injured by the gunfire, named as Yahya Suleiman and a man called Abdelrahman were taken to a hospital in Tawila. The perpetrators fled in the direction of Kolgi.

Relatives of the victims filed reports with the army in Khazan Tunjur, who said that they were unable to pursue the perpetrators.

Saraf Omra

Also on Tuesday, a number of people were injured in an armed robbery on the road from Saraf Omra to Meleisa in North Darfur.

Matar Abdelrahman told Radio Dabanga from Meleisa, that three armed men riding a motorcycle blocked the way of a vehicle returning from the weekly market in Saraf Omra to the Meleisa area.

The gunmen beat the people with the butts of their rifles, which led to their injuries to varying degrees. They then robbed them of their money and mobile telephones.

The injured were transferred to the Health Unit Centre in Meleisa. The robbers fled to Saraf Omra, Abdelrahman said.

At least one person was injured in an attack by armed men riding a motorcycle in the area of Kalkal, 4 km southeast of Saraf Omra in North Darfur.

Mohamed Khater told Radio Dabanga that three armed men intercepted a horse and cart returning from the Saraf Omra weekly market to the Kalkal area. The gunmen robbed the passengers of their money and belongings, he said.

Kordofan

On the Abbasiya-Um Rawaba road on Tuesday, three armed men in civilian clothes stole money and mobile devices from passengers. Mansour Ahmed told Radio Dabanga that three armed men, one of whom was riding a motorcycle, intercepted their vehicle while en route from Abbasiya in South Kordofan to Um Rawaba in North Kordofan.

“The gunmen stopped our vehicle, unloaded the passengers and stole our mobile phones and money at gunpoint, and then released us,” he reported. “A quarter of an hour after we left the scene, we found another vehicle abandoned, which had been stolen by the same group.”

Ahmed said that South and North Kordofan are witnessing a surge of armed robberies without any response to appeals the security services.