Rebel alliance claim to down helicopter in northern Kordofan

The alliance of armed resistance forces in Darfur announced of the hitting of a military helicopter yesterday morning in the northern part of the Darfur-Kordofan frontier.The rebels claim to have hit the aircraft in Wadi El Malik, which lies in Northern Hamra Elsheikh in Kordofan and Southwest Dongola.

Abu Bakr Hamid Nour, the secretary for organization and management in the JEM said that they have witnessed the chopper as it caught fire after anti-aircraft missiles from the side of the resistance forces (comprising loyalists of Abdel Wahid, Khalil Ibrahim, Minni Minawi, Ali Karbino and SLA-Unity) in the area. Abu Bakr Hamid revealed that the aircraft might have subsequently crashed in El Obeid airport or Dongola or Khartoum.

On the other hand, the Sudan Armed Forces told a different account. Colonel Al Sowarmi Khalid Saad, the army spokesman, announced that a training plane belonging to the Sudan Air Forces caught fire on Wednesday morning and told Sudan News Agency (SUNA) that the MI24 plane was attempting to take off and caught fire in one of its engines. It went off the runway and burnt, which led to the death of one of its three crew.