CAIRO Ñ Sudanese rebels have claimed huge government losses in heavy
fighting in the war-torn south.
The Sudanese People's Liberation Army said it killed more than 1,000
Sudanese troops and aligned forces in nearly a week of heavy fighting in the
Blue Nile region last week. The SPLA said the Sudanese military deployed
attack helicopters and armored vehicles in Khartoum's biggest offensive
since 1999.
About 300 of the troops were said to have come from an elite Dababin
unit, the SPLA said. The commandos were said to have led the recent
offensive by Khartoum.
The Khartoum regime, which denied the SPLA report on casualties, has
launched an offensive to recapture the strategic town of Torit, lost to the
SPLA a month ago. Last week, SPLA forces withdrew from the area of Madel,
regarded as a major supply route used by the SPLA.
The rebels also said they downed another Sudanese Russian-made military
helicopter, the second in four days. The SPLA said Sudanese troops have been
ordered to cut the strategic road from Torit to Juba, the largest town in
the south and
controlled by the Khartoum regime. So far, the SPLA said, the Sudanese
military has launched six attacks to cut the road.
The SPLA said the military's air attacks on rebel positions have
resulted in the deaths of more than 20 civilians. An SPLA spokesman said 17
civilians were killed during an attack on a refugee camp.
Amid its offensive, Khartoum has imposed a ban on flights to the south.
The ban affects the airlift of humanitarian aid by the United Nations and
international relief agencies to the area.
The United States and the UN have protested Khartoum's flight ban and
have urged Sudan to reverse the decision. Sudan has cited security reasons
for the flight ban.
"This is the first time in the history of the operation that all flights
into southern Sudan have been stopped," Martin Dawes, a spokesman for the UN
relief efforts, said. "This is extremely serious for us."
