Khartoum: Sudan's army killed a key
rebel leader from the Darfur region on Sunday, state media
reported, three days after anti-government forces said they
had begun advancing on the capital Khartoum.
"The Sudanese army announces that they killed Khalil
Ibrahim in fighting today in west Wadbanda, North Kordofan,"
the official Sudan News Agency (SUNA) said.
Ibrahim headed the Justice and Equality Movement, the
most heavily armed group in the Darfur region.
The report of his death could not be independently
confirmed.
Today SUNA, quoting army spokesman Sawarmi Khaled Saad,
said the military was combing the North Kordofan-North Darfur
border area after JEM "attacked civilians" and targeted local
leaders while looting their property in the Umm-Gozain, Goz
Abyadh and Aramal areas.
Saad gave no casualty figures.
The JEM announced on Thursday through its London-based
spokesman that its forces were advancing from Darfur eastward
towards Khartoum.
On the official Sudan TV channel, Saad said today that
government forces "clashed directly" with Ibrahim's troops,
killing him and "a group of his leaders" as Ibrahim was on his
way to South Sudan.
The South became independent in July following an
overwhelming vote to separate after a two-decade civil war.
Sudanese troops have been battling rebels on the poorly
defined southern border, with each country accusing the other
of supporting rebels within their territories.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, December 25, 2011, 13:06