Bombs rain on Sudan’s Jebel Marra, rebels claim counter-attack

The Sudanese Air Force continues to bomb the western part of Jebel Marra in Darfur. The holdout armed rebel movement in Jebel Marra claims to have killed dozens of government troops on Monday.

On Tuesday morning, five barrel bombs were dropped on the area of Golol and Krey El Khalwa, two kilometres east of Tur, killing five cows and six sheep.

On Wednesday, three bombs were dropped near to Bodong and Kalou. The number of casualties is unknown. A listener told Radio Dabanga that Hawa Mohamed, Fatima Arbab, and Mohamed Nureldin are missing since the bombing.

The rebel Sudan Liberation Movement headed by Abdelwahid El Nur (SLM-AW) claim to have killed 49 government troops and wounded 19 others in the area of Kutrum in the western part of Jebel Marra on Monday.

Shihabeldin Ahmed Haggar, military spokesman for the Movement told Radio Dabanga, that their forces launched a counter-attack on Monday in the Kutrum area.

The SLM-AW recaptured ground that had been occupied by government forces “over the past few days”. He said that the bodies of the government soldiers are still lying in the open.

The movement’s forces “seized large quantities of weapons and ammunition that are still being counted”. Three SLM-AW troops were killed and four wounded in the action, according to Haggar.

The Sudanese army claimed to have regained control of the area from the rebel SLM-AW on 8 February. According to the UN in an update on Wednesday, the number of civilians displaced as a result of the recent conflict in Darfur’s Jebel Marra area has increased from 38,000 to 73,000.