Trader killed, five men kidnapped in North Darfur’s Tawila

A merchant was shot dead in Tawila locality in North Darfur on Saturday. Five firewood collectors were kidnapped in the locality on Monday.

“Trader Haroun Ismail was killed by gunmen riding camels on the Tawila-Tabra road,” Omda Mukhtar Bosh, coordinator of the Tawila camps for the displaced told Radio Dabanga.

“He was on his way with his three donkeys loaded with foodstuffs he intended to sell in Tawila town, when the janjaweed intercepted him. They shot him dead, seized his food, and fled.”

Bosh said that Tawila locality Commissioner Adam Yagoub sent a force that managed to restore the stolen items. “Unfortunately, they were not able to seize the killers.”

Kidnap

A group of armed men kidnapped five people from the area of Hashaba, south of Tabit on Monday. They demand a ransom of SDG10,000 ($1,525) for their release.

A relative of one of the victims told Radio Dabanga that Abdelazim Haroun, Ibrahim Mousa, Abdelrazag Yousef, Abdallah Kharif, and Adam Haroun were on their way with their carts to the area of Teira west of Hashaba to collect firewood when they were ambushed.

“Militiamen driving in a Land Cruiser mounted with a Dushka machinegun stopped them. They forced them at gunpoint to get into their vehicle and took them to an unknown destination,” he said.

“The kidnappers called us not much later, and asked each family to pay SDG2,000 for the release of their relative.”

He said that the families refused to respond to the kidnappers, and have reported the incident to the military garrison of Tabit.