Khartoum: An air attack on a village in
South Darfur, thought to have been carried out in response to
an attack by armed men on a bus, left up to 13 people injured,
the United Nations said on Sunday.
"A UNAMID patrol has confirmed air strikes at Khirwajid
village, near Labado in South Darfur, on March 26," the joint
UN-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur said in a
statement.
"The incident left a reported 13 people injured, many of
whom were taken to the Mission's team site for treatment, as
well as four houses burned and livestock killed."
"The bombardment is alleged to be in retaliation for an
attack on a passenger bus by armed men the previous day," the
mission added.
A spokesman for the the Sudanese army, the only entity
that could, and might, carry out such an attack in the
country's war-torn region, denied any knowledge of the
incident.
"We didn't have any involvement in this, and we don't
have any information about it," Sawarmi Khaled Saad said.
Earlier this month, UNAMID said renewed fighting between
rebels and the Sudanese army since December had resulted in
more than 70,000 new arrivals at camps in Darfur for those
displaced by the war.
Yesterday, a Catholic aid agency said it had suspended
its operations in West Darfur after the government accused it
of distributing bibles in the area, a claim strongly denied,
and warned that it could not guarantee the organisation's
security.
The United Nations says at least 300,000 people have been
killed in Darfur since non-Arab rebels first rose up against
the Arab-dominated regime in Khartoum in 2003. The government
puts the death toll at 10,000.
Bureau Report
First Published: Tuesday, March 29, 2011, 00:54