Darfur rebels shoot down MiG fighter: Minawi spokesman

The resistance forces in Darfur stated that they brought down a MiG fighter plane belonging to the Sudanese Armed Forces on Monday while the plane was bombarding the area of Tenkarara. The village was completely destroyed by the airstrikes. The spokesman of Minni Minawi’s movement, Adam Salih, told Radio Dabanga that the plane was hit by the movement’s air defense and fell in El Fasher airport. Eyewitnesses close to El Fasher airport told Radio Dabanga that the saw the plane catching fire and burning during an attempt to land on the runway. The witnesses told Radio Dabanga that all air travels to El Fasher from Khartoum and Nyala were cancelled on Monday.

From his side, the army spokesman, Colonel Sowarmi Khalid Saad, denied the story of the resistance forces but admitted that the plane fell due to technical reasons. He stated the MiG winged airplane crashed during its landing on the runway of El Fasher airport without burning. He affirmed that all of its crew survived. He also revealed that the civil aviation authorities, as a cautionary procedure, closed the airport for several hours and denied the army getting involved in any battle with the resistance forces since the battle of Shegag Karo a week ago.