Sudanese Air Force bombs South Darfur villages

The Sudanese Air Force on Saturday bombed more than nine villages south of Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, leading to displaced people, and the death of large numbers of livestock. Sheikh Mahjoub Adam Tabaldiya of El Salam camp for the displaced near Nyala told Radio Dabanga that Antonov fighter jets on Saturday afternoon bombed the villages of Tabaldiyat, Um Gunja East and West, Bir Hashim, Dahiya Tugul, Aradeiba, Allah Karim, Abu Asha, Ghireiba, and Hijeer. The sheikh said that the aerial bombardments led to the fleeing of the residents into the valleys and on the mountains. Large numbers arrived at El Salam camp. They have not been counted yet. Tabaldiya described how he and the other camp residents saw the Antonov aircrafts roaming in the air above the area on Saturday afternoon. Then they heard the bombing and loud explosions continuing until sunset. “We saw plumes of smoke and flames devouring houses, grass, and trees, and killing large numbers of our livestock.” The camp sheikh appealed to the humanitarian organisations working in the region to provide relief for the newly displaced people and to the government to abstain from bombing “hitherto safe and quiet villages”. File photoRelated: Darfur’s East Jebel Marra residents commemorate bombing victims (3 December 2013)Continued bombing in South Kordofan kills six; rebels shell Kadugli in response (19 November 2013)’Indiscriminate bombing Sudan’s signature tactic in Blue Nile’: Amnesty International (11 June 2013)