Northern Bahr al Ghazal State's acting caretaker governor has denied that SPLA-IO rebels captured the Achana areas and Nyinbuoli as claimed by rebels last Thursday and Sunday.

The acting governor Major General Salva Chol Ayat acknowledged that rebel forces entered Achana Payam in Aweil West last Thursday but stressed that they have since withdrawn. The rebels looted civilians and went away on the same day, he said in an interview on Monday.

Salva said that SPLA ambushed rebels in Achana area on the same day and captured two rebel soldiers, a lieutenant and a sergeant. He said those soldiers were conscripted by General Dau Aturjong's movement and received military training in Sudan's South Darfur State.

The governor downplayed the strength of the rebel forces saying they did not even want to fight but only wanted to loot food items from citizens of those ares. He said that after SPLA learned of the development a platoon was sent to protect the area.

On Sunday, government troops clashed with rebel forces in Nyinbuoli in Aweil West County. The county commissioner Garang Kuac has pointed to the presence of rebel forces along the state's northern border with Darfur as a factor in rising food prices.