(Corrects toll in paragraphs 1 and 4 to two children dead,
eight people wounded)
* Third bout of shelling in Kadugli in two weeks
* Government says it wants to drive rebels out of area
* Rebels say both sides exchange artillery fire
By Khalid Abdelaziz
KHARTOUM, Oct 23 (Reuters) – Sudanese rebels killed two
children and wounded eight other civilians when they shelled the
main town in Sudan’s oil-producing South Kordofan state on
Tuesday, the army said – the third bout of shelling in the past
two weeks.
Sudan’s army has been fighting SPLM-North rebels in the
state, which borders South Sudan, since June last year, shortly
before South Sudan seceded. But the South Kordofan capital
Kadugli was until recently kept out of the fighting.
Army spokesman al-Sawarmi Khalid told Reuters the rebels had
shelled an army garrison outside Kadugli but that some shells
had landed inside the town.
He said the attack led to the killing of two children, while
eight other civilians were wounded, adding that the army had
launched an operation a few days ago to “cleanse” the area
around Kadugli of rebels.
SPLM-North spokesman Arnu Lodi said the rebels had shelled
army positions inside Kadugli after coming under government
artillery fire.
“The government and our troops have been shelling each other
since this morning,” Lodi said. “They have been shelling our
forces based outside Kadugli from inside the town and we are
shooting back in self-defence.”
A resident who declined to be named said several shells had
landed in the centre of the city. “People are frightened,” he
said.
Events in Sudan’s border states are hard to verify as the
government bans foreign media from travelling there.
The rebels first shelled Kadugli on Oct. 8. At least one
rocket hit a U.N. compound, prompting the United Nations to move
its staff out of the town.
Khartoum accuses South Sudan of backing the rebels of the
Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North, who fought as part of
the southern rebel army during Sudan’s civil war, which ended in
2005. South Sudan denies the accusation.
Fighting in South Kordofan and nearby Blue Nile state has
displaced or severely affected 900,000 people, the United
Nations said on Friday. Sudan agreed in August to let aid into
rebel-held areas but the United Nations has been unable to win
government approval to go ahead with distributing food.
Under international pressure, Sudan and South Sudan agreed
last month to establish a buffer zone along their border after
clashing along it several times in the past year. Indirect talks
between Khartoum and the rebels, however, have made scant
progress.
The SPLM-North last year formed an alliance with rebels in
the western region of Darfur with the aim of toppling Sudan’s
veteran president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, but it is unclear how
closely the groups coordinate.
(Additional reporting by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
