| 5 days 19 hours 20 sec ago Darfur rebels clash with security forces near capital
|
KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) - Hundreds of Darfur rebels reached the
outskirts of Sudan's capital Saturday for the first time and
clashed with security forces, rebel and government officials said.
Sudan's army deployed on the streets of Khartoum, putting up
checkpoints and imposing an overnight curfew. An Interior Ministry
statement said the curfew was in effect while the government was
"dealing with the infiltrators."
State television showed footage of burning trucks and other cars
pockmarked by bullets. At least one body was sprawled in a dusty
street, covered in cloth, and another victim was slumped in the cab
of a jeep nearby. Men in traditional white robes crowded around the
wreckage.
The clashes come after days of government warnings that the
Justice and Equality Movement, one of Darfur's main rebel
movements, was going to target Khartoum. Saturday's attack is the
closest the rebels have ever gotten to the capital.
After nightfall, Interior Minister Ibrahim Mahmoud Hamed told
state TV that government troops had successfully expelled the
rebels from the city but were still searching for possible remnants
of the force.
The government channel also reported that a rebel leader and one
of his aides were killed in the clashes, but JEM could not
immediately be reached for comment. Hamed said many rebels were
detained and about 40 vehicles were
destroyed or confiscated.
State TV also showed pictures of soldiers seizing what appeared
to be rebel jeeps mounted with rocket or mortar launchers and
ammunition. Government troops drove the vehicles down empty
streets, waving their weapons to signal victory and saluting
colleagues.
The government later extended the curfew in Khartoum, saying
some rebel members have shed their uniforms and are hiding among
civilians. Security forces ordered residents to clear the streets
and armored vehicles were patrolling the capital. Bridges to
Omdurman, Khartoum's twin city, have been cut by government forces.
In a statement, the military said that "elements" of JEM had
infiltrated northern Omdurman. The statement said the Sudanese
forces had stopped the main advance of the JEM forces in
neighboring province Kordofan, but that a few had reached Khartoum.
JEM leader Abu Zumam, however, told The Associated Press by
telephone that hundreds of his fighters had reached Omdurman and
engaged government forces. Gunfire could be heard in the
background.
"We entered Omdurman by force," he said, adding that his army
of some 700 vehicles planned to take over the state radio building
in the city.
JEM once confined its activities to Darfur, where local ethnic
African rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated central
government in 2003 complaining of discrimination.
In the last year however, JEM has widened its activities to
include Kordofan, the vast province between the capital and Darfur.
More than 200,000 have died in Sudan's Darfur region and 2.5
million have fled to refugee camps since 2003. Sudan denies backing
the janjaweed militia of Arab nomads accused of the worst
atrocities in the conflict.
On Saturday, the country's interior minister accused neighboring
Chad of supporting what he called "mercenaries" who aimed to hit
Khartoum. "Chad wants to hit Sudan in the heart," Hamed told
state TV.
Sudan also accused Chad of attacking a border area to provide
cover for JEM's attacks against the capital.
The Sudanese army spokesman, Brigadier General Osman al-Agbash
said Chadian forces on Friday attacked the border and were repelled
with "heavy losses on the attacking Chadian forces," he said
according to the official state news agency SUNA.
Relations between the two countries, which share a long arid
border region home to numerous armed groups have long been
strained.
Chad has accused Sudanese authorities of arming rebels who
launched a failed assault February on the Chadian capital,
N'Djamena. The rebels reached the gate of the presidential palace,
but fled toward Sudan after Chad's army repelled them in fighting
that left hundreds dead.
Sudan, meanwhile, has repeatedly accused Chad of supporting the
rebellion in Darfur.
Though the two countries signed peace agreement in March
promising to prevent armed groups from operating along each other's
shared borders, the accusations have continued unabated.
---
Associated Press Writer Sarah El Deeb contributed to this report
from Cairo, Egypt.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
