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Tuesday, April 24, 2012

SUDANESE WARPLANES STRIKE AT SOUTH SUDAN BORDER TOWNS



Juba, South Sudan (CNN) -- Sudanese warplanes crossed a disputed border region to strike Monday in South Sudan, escalating fighting that threatens to return the neighboring African countries to full-scale war, a witness said.
A Sudanese military commander, Kamal Marouf, was quoted by Radio Sudan's website as saying that more than 1,200 South Sudanese had been killed.

A Sudanese military spokesman denied that Sudan had used military aircraft to bomb the south. "We have nothing to do with what's going on in Unity state," he said, implying that militias or South Sudanese rebels were behind any fighting.

The report of the bombing of the towns of Bentiu and Rubkona came days after South Sudan pulled its troops at the request of the United Nations from the disputed oil-rich region of Heglig, though Sudan says its soldiers retook the area from South Sudanese soldiers.

Two fighter jets fired four missiles at the neighboring towns, divided by a river, hitting an open-air market and killing at least one person, said journalist Alan Boswell, who is in Bentiu. Boswell was in his car crossing the bridge between the two towns when anti-aircraft fire erupted. That was followed, he said, by missile strikes. 
"I saw one boy who about 10 years old who was completely burned," he said. "There are other casualties." The remains of thatch-covered stalls in Rubkona smoldered for hours after the morning bombing, Boswell said. In a statement, South Sudan Information Minister Banaba Marial Benjamin said that three bombs had struck a market in Bentiu, killing two civilians, including a 12-year-old boy. 

"The Security Council must take its responsibility and punish the Republic of Sudan for continuing this aerial bombardment and the violation of the airspace of Sudan," he said. Soon after, the United Nations called for Sudan to halt the aerial bombings after what it described as four morning attacks, including one on the capital of oil-rich Unity state. "These indiscriminate bombings resulting in the loss of civilian lives must stop," said Hilde F. Johnson, special representative of the secretary-general for South Sudan, in a statement.

Ban Ki-moon condemned the bombardment and called on Sudan to cease all hostilities immediately, a spokesman for the secretary-general said in a statement. He called on Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir and South Sudan's President Salva Kiir "to stop the slide towards further confrontation and urges both sides to return to dialogue as a matter of urgency," the statement said.

The U.N. peacekeeping mission said one of its helicopters was in the air during the 8:30 a.m. attack on Bentiu, the Unity state capital. "The U.N. helicopter was in the vicinity at the time of the bombing, and it took off and landed without damage," said Josephine Guerrero, a spokeswoman for the mission.

In the hours after the airstrikes, the military presence in the area increased, Boswell said. Two South Sudanese generals who were arriving near the towns said the airstrikes marked "a clear escalation" by Sudan, he said. In addition to the airstrikes, fighting continued Monday in several areas of the border region, said South Sudan's military spokesman, Philip Aguer.

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