KHARTOUM, 11 August 2007 — Heavy fighting in southern Darfur has killed scores of rebels and government forces over the past week, and the Sudanese Air Force has bombed several villages, rebels and international observers in Darfur reported. The clashes began Aug. 1 when a coalition of rebels, including members of the Justice and Equality Movement, captured the strategic town of Adila, where Sudanese troops were stationed to protect the only railway linking Darfur to Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, rebels said.
The Sudanese Army and its allied Janjaweed militias “were summarily defeated, leaving behind heavy weapons and ammunition,” JEM said in a statement. The group said the offensive was led by Abdelazziz Ushar, a Darfur field commander previously fighting a separate rebellion in eastern Sudan. A senior international observer in Darfur said Thursday that Sudanese forces had recaptured Adila, located near South Darfur’s border with the neighboring region of Khordofan, but reported clashes were ongoing.
“It seems over 100 (Sudanese) soldiers or Janjaweed have been killed,” the official told The Associated Press on the telephone.
At least 10 rebels were killed and 15 injured, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Rebels said they launched the offensive because the Janjaweed were burning villages in the area.
The African Union mission in Darfur confirmed there had been heavy fighting, but said it had no further details. Rebels and international observers said the fighters seized more than 50 government vehicles and some heavy armament during the offensive.
Meanwhile, Sudan’s Air Force bombed at least four villages in the area this week, observers and rebels said, but there were no reports of casualties because many of the civilians have fled.
One of JEM’s leaders said his group shot down a government MiG-29 fighter jet on Wednesday that was participating in the bombings, a claim denied by the government and disputed by other rebels.
Abdullahi El-Tom told AP the aircraft’s wreckage had been found 4.5 kilometers south of Adila, but the pilot had not been located. Rebels from a faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement fighting alongside JEM told international observers the jet crashed because of a mechanical problem.
