Sudanese rebels shell southern city during visit by defense minister
| Khartoum
Sudanese rebels shelled the main city of the oil-producing South Kordofan state during a visit of聽's defence minister, Abdel Raheem Muhammad Hussein, rebels and residents said.
聽has been fighting rebels of the聽听笔别辞辫濒别'蝉听-North () in South Kordofan, which borders聽, since June last year. But the state capital Kadugli was until this month mainly kept out of the fighting.
听蝉辫辞办别蝉尘补苍听聽said the rebels had fired shells on聽聽positions inside Kadugli on Friday after coming under fire from government warplanes.
"There was an aerial bombardment against聽聽positions and villages so we fired back against military positions in Kadugli," he said.
Residents said the shelling started when the defence minister, a close ally of President聽, was addressing worshippers during prayers marking Eid al-Adha, the Muslim Feast of Sacrifice.
"Some seven rockets hit the town, one of them close to the place where the minister spoke," a resident said, asking not to be named. "Worshippers were really afraid."
听补肠肠耻蝉别蝉听, which seceded from the north in July 2011, of backing the聽, whose fighters were part of the southern rebel聽听诲耻谤颈苍驳听's long civil war. South聽聽denies the accusation.
Events in聽's border states are hard to verify as the government bans foreign media from travelling there.
聽spokesman al-Sawarmi Khalid could not be reached on his mobile phone, but the newspaper al-Intibaha, run by an uncle of Bashir, confirmed on Saturday that rebels shelled Kadugli when the defence minister was in town to celebrate Eid.
This was the fourth reported shelling of the state capital this month. The rebels first shelled Kadugli on Oct. 8. At least one rocket hit a U.N. compound, prompting the聽聽to move its staff out of the town.
Lodi, the rebels' spokesman, also accused the聽聽of bombing the rebel-held area of Kauda in South Kordofan on Saturday.
Fighting in South Kordofan and nearby Blue Nile state has displaced or severely affected 900,000 people, the United Nations said a week ago.聽聽agreed in August to let aid into rebel-held areas but the聽has been unable to win government approval to go ahead with distributing food.
Under international pressure,聽听补苍诲听聽agreed last month to establish a buffer zone along their border after clashing along it several times in the past year. Indirect talks between聽聽and the rebels, however, have made scant progress.
Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz and Ulf Laessing, editing by Rosalind Russell
