Six dead, including police ops chief, in South Darfur ambush

Six people, including the police Chief of Operations, were killed in an ambush by militiamen in Gireida on Sunday afternoon. The attackers managed to seize two police vehicles.

The assailants, about 100 militiamen strong, in the area of Hashaba, first ambushed a group of civilians, and subsequently a police contingent that rushed towards the sound of gunfire.

The attacks happened against the backdrop of the murder of a displaced farmer, Kaboura Abdelrazeg Hashim, by militiamen on Saturday. A group of locals formed a rescue team on Sunday and chased the tracks of the perpetrators to Hashaba. Gunmen, riding camels and horses, opened fire on the group from their shelter in the bushes.

A member of the rescue team told Radio Dabanga that the locals and the militiamen exchanged fire. Three members of the group were killed, while ten others sustained injuries.

Police in the area noticed the noise of the fighting and arrived at the scene in the afternoon, in three vehicles. Again, the militia members opened fire on the policemen, killing the Chief of Operations, Lt Anwar Bashir, and policeman Sadat Ali.

Six policemen sustained injuries, including Lt Bashir’s deputy, Lt. Mahmoud Jar Adim. The assailants seized two police vehicles.

The rescue team member: “The rest of the police force was able to evacuate the wounded civilians and policemen and withdrew to Gireida in the remaining vehicle. The 16 wounded have been taken to Nyala hospital.”

Seven members of the rescue group are missing since the ambush.

Woman killed

On a farm near the scene of the shooting, people discovered the body of Khadija Mohamed Abdallah the same day. She had a gunshot wound to her head. The witness said that Abdallah might be killed by a stray bullet from the site of the ambush.

The policemen who took part in the shooting are members of an operational police force, deployed to Gireida in order to protect the farmlands against militant pastoralists and militiamen.