Boy killed, girl wounded in air raid in North Darfur’s Tawila

A boy (12) was killed and a girl (13) was seriously wounded in an air raid in North Darfur's Tawila locality, popularly known as East Jebel Marra, today.

“Yousef Hussein Omar and Hawa Suleiman Eisa were sitting under a tree watching the livestock they were herding in the vicinity of El Aradeib this (Thursday) afternoon, when an Antonov of the Sudanese Air Force dropped two bombs on the area,” a relative of Omar reported to Radio Dabanga.

“Yousef was fatally hit, and Hawa was seriously injured at her legs. A donkey was also killed and three heads of livestock were injured. The explosions ignited a few tracts of land,” he said.

The relative explained that the two children left their village, Tamara, this morning to herd their livestock in El Aradeib, ten kilometres east of Fanga. “The bombing took place at 2 pm.”

He said that the Antonov most probably covered the movements of large groups of army troops and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) east and west of Jebel Marra.

Jebel Marra attacked

On 30 December, two large forces of army soldiers and RSF, backed by intensive air bombardments, attacked a number of villages in Jebel Marra. Many houses were plundered and torched. The villagers sought refuge in the mountains and caves.

The area is a stronghold of the mainstream Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM-AW).

One force attacked Jebel Marra from the west and the second from the north-east, the villagers reported. They attacks were accompanied by intensive air raids.

The SLM-AW claimed victory over the government forces in a battle that lasted from 31 December until the next morning. 20 soldiers and paramilitaries were allegedly killed.

The Sudanese government announced in October that its forces would “eliminate all rebel fighters during the next dry season”.