Sudan has renewed air attacks on suspected insurgency
strongholds in Darfour which devastated villages and killed primarily civilians.
The United Nations said the attacks marked the bloodiest violence in
Darfour in weeks, Middle East Newsline reported. Earlier this week, the UN had reported a drop in fighting
in the war-torn western province.
UN officials as well as aid workers reported that the Sudanese Air Force
has renewed bombing missions by Antonov air tranports on villages in
Darfour. They said the air force has also used attack helicopters against
civilian targets.
"It has been confirmed that the village of Hamada was nearly totally
destroyed and that up to 105 civilians may have been killed, with the
majority of victims being women and children," UN spokesman George Somerwill
told a news conference on Wednesday.
Officials said the military launched an offensive against several
villages in southern Darfour. At the time, Khartoum cited an operation to
restore order and drive away bandits.
The air force bombed the village of Hamada this week, officials said. In
November 2004, Sudan pledged to end such attacks.
The latest military offensive has sparked the flight of 8,000 people in
Darfour, Somerwill said.
Aid workers also reported insurgency attacks in Darfour's oil sector. The
Adventist Development and Relief Agency International said three of its
Sudanese workers were abducted by rebel groups in an area where oil was
being prospected.
"ADRA is appealing for the release of three agency workers that were
abducted at gunpoint along with ADRA project vehicles while traveling
through the then rebel-controlled area of Labado," the group said in a
statement.
