Blue Nile rebels claim ambush on Sudan forces

Rebel fighters of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North ambushed an unknown number of Sudanese soldiers north of Kurmuk in Blue Nile State on Monday, according to a press statement.

Four soldiers were killed and nine wounded during the attack between El Birka and Sali, ten kilometres north of Kurmuk, the SPLM-N claimed today. “According to our sources, there was a second lieutenant among them,” spokesman Arnu Ngutulu Lodi said.

The rebels, under the command of Maj. Gen. Ahmed Elomda reported no casualties on their side. They managed to seize a number of AKM rifles, ammunition, and magazines, a RPG-7, and a Dushka machine gun from the Sudan Armed Forces. A Toyota vehicle was destroyed.

The SPLM-N reported repulsing an attack by the army in Torda, Bau locality, on Saturday. 13 government troops were killed and three armoured vehicles were destroyed, Lodi stated.

Last week, government officials and media sources in Sudan pointed to growing expectations of a peace deal between the Sudanese government and the SPLM-N on the war-torn South Kordofan and Blue Nile states, following informal talks in the capital of Ethiopia.