The Sudan People Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) announced it killed 30 Sudanese government troops and injured another 25 in East El-Leri, South Kordofan, on Wednesday, 31 October. The report suggests that the wet season lull is coming to an end as drying roads ease the movement of men, supplies and fighting vehicles.

According to the SPLM-N spokesman, Arnau Nugutulu Lodi, the rebel group attacked and destroyed a camp of government troops and seized their guns and weapons. He added that an SPLM-N soldier was killed during the battle and that another four got lightly wounded. 

In a related development, the Sudanese defense minister Abdul Rahim Mohammed Hussein has said that he will intensify aerial bombings in the area and deploy more troops and weapons to crush the SPLM-N.

 Lodi responded to the minister’s initiative saying it will not be enough to crush them, adding that this will only give the group more strength and determination to continue their struggle to remove the current regime in Khartoum that ‘supports terrorism, ethnic cleansing and genocide’.

The Sudanese army could not be reached for comment.

Reporting by Radio Dabanga