Sudan rebels: Civilians die in government attack
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A Sudanese refugee helps a fellow patient at a tent set up by a humanitarian organization in neighboring Chad.
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CAIRO, Egypt (Reuters) -- Sudanese forces and pro-government militia have burned several villages and killed more than 175 civilians in West Sudan in recent attacks during an ongoing government offensive, a rebel official said on Sunday.
Abdel Wahed Mohamed Ahmed al-Nur, chairman of the rebel Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), one of two main rebel groups in the area, also told Reuters his group had killed about 700 government troops and militia.
Fighting in Darfur, which first erupted in February 2003, has surged in recent weeks. Government officials could not be reached for comment on the latest attacks and independent verification is difficult to obtain.
Western Sudan has long been prone to tensions between Arab nomads and African farmers over water and grazing, but the conflict has recently taken on a more military dimension.
Rebels say government forces have been bombing civilian areas with Antonov planes, helicopter gunships and heavy artillery during the offensive, driving thousands of people across the border into Chad.
"Now (on Sunday), in east Jebel Marra, the government is bombing with Antonov aircraft and gunships," the SLA's Nur said.
Sudanese state radio reported on Friday that the Sudanese army had captured the town of Tine, on the border with Chad and north of Geneina, the capital of West Darfur state.
The SLA's Nur told Reuters four villages were burned and more than 75 civilians killed in government-led attacks on Saturday in the area of west Jebel Marra, about 200 km (125 miles) east of Geneina.
He said by telephone from the region that SLA forces had killed 700 government troops and militia, known as the Janjaweed, in a counter attack in west Jebel Marra. He said he was citing figures from commanders in the field.
Nur said more than 100 civilians were also killed on Saturday when five villages were torched in the Jebel Moon area, northeast of Geneina.
An official from the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), the other main rebel group, confirmed government attacks in recent days in the Jebel Marra and Jebel Moon areas but could not give figures for the numbers killed.
"It is very difficult to get the exact number, because the area is very wide and still some villages are burning," said JEM's Abu Bakr Hamid al-Nur.
The western rebels have accused the government of marginalizing the arid region. Fighting intensified after peace talks between the government and SLA broke down in December.
Separately, the government has been in talks in Kenya with another, southern-based rebel group to end a two-decade-old civil war in the south of Sudan.
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