Darfur rebels shoot down military aircraft in Jebel Marra: spokesman

The Sudan Liberation Army of Abdel Wahed al Nur (SLA-AW) alleged that yesterday it shot down a fighter jet east of Jebel Marra in central Darfur.  The army denied.SLA-AW claimed to have downed the military aircraft in the Derfata area of Jebel Marra on Thursday. According to Nimr Abdelrahman, spokesman of the movement, the army was also using unmanned drones and helicopters, using the choppers to launch rockets at non-military targets on Jebel Marra yesterday. The rebel spokesman said that in ground fighting the SLA forces destroyed 7 vehicles and captured 5 others.

For its part, the Armed Forces firmly denied that any aicraft was shot down by the rebels in eastern Jebel Marra yesterday. Al Sawarmi Khaled Saad, spokesman of the Armed Forces, told Radio Dabanga that an army convoy was ambushed yesterday in the Derfata region of Jebel Marra. The colonel said that the army dealt with the attack.  

In an interview broadcast today, the Armed Forces spokesman downplayed the figures cited by the rebel spokesman as the outcome of the battle. He said that the army convoy, which was moving from Zalingei to Rokero, was able to reach its destination safely after the loss of two soldiers and the wounding of ten in the clash at Derfata.