News Article by REUTERS posted on August 08, 2000 at 07:02:30: EST (-5 GMT)
Sudan govt "bombs two southern towns, seven dead"
NAIROBI, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Sudanese government warplanes
have bombed
two rebel-held towns in the south of the country,
killing at least seven
civilians and narrowly missing a U.N.
relief plane, rebels said on Tuesday.
Russian-built Antonov bombers circled over the towns of Tonj
and Mapel in
Bahr el Ghazal province on Monday and dropped more
than a dozen bombs on each
location, said Samson Kwaje,
spokesman for the rebel Sudan People's
Liberation Army (SPLA).
"In Tonj they came and dropped bombs right on the market,
and some fell
near a school," he told Reuters.
"What we have heard so far is that seven have been killed
and more than
100 injured. But those numbers could rise."
The SPLA and other rebel groups have been fighting Sudan's
Islamic
government for 17 years for greater autonomy for the
mainly Christian and
animist south. An estimated two million
people have been killed in the
conflict and related famines.
The government has stepped up bombing raids on the southern
province of
Bahr el Ghazal in recent weeks, following the
capture by the SPLA of the
government garrison town of Gogrial.
Kwaje said he had no details of casualties from the attack
at Mapel, but
said a relief plane had been on the ground when
the attack took place.
An official from Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS), an umbrella
group of U.N.
and non-governmental aid agencies, confirmed the
attacks.
"We have heard about both the bombings and there was in
fact an OLS plane
on the ground (in Mapel). But we don't think
the plane was hit and there were
no OLS casualties," said the
official, who declined to be identified by name.
There was no immediate comment from the government.