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DELLING - 12 Nov 2013

SRF claim attack on two Sudanese army battalions in South Kordofan

The Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) claim to have launched an attack on a battalion of Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and militias on 12 November in the area of Deleima in South Kordofan.

Mohamed Bileil Eisa Zayed, vice president of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the Movement's secretary for the Kordofan region, said that at about 3pm on 12 November, a joint force of JEM and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), launched an attack on a SAF battalion in the area of Deleima at the intersection between Debeibat-Dilling and Furshaya, 15km north of Delling.

According to Zayed, the joint rebel forces killed more than 60 SAF and militia troops, including the battalion commander. Dozens of SAF officers and soldiers were injured and captured, including Lt. Mohamed Mutwakil El Haj Asha of the 15th Infantry Division. The attackers also seized nine military vehicles loaded with arms, ammunition, supplies, and an anti-aircraft gun.

The JEM secretary reported that the SRF forces are in control of the area after they “drove off the SAF troops, who fled in the direction of Furshaya”. He also affirmed that SRF troops “managed to destroy the largest SAF camp in the area of Kortala, 25km east of Delling”.

Zayed appealed via Radio Dabanga to “the militia leaders Mohamed Hamdan Hamiti, Abdelrahman El Nur and Amir Ahmed, who were brought from Darfur to fight the SRF to stop fighting on behalf of the monopolisers of power and wealth in Khartoum”.  

“My brothers, if you are fighting for Arabisation, I tell you we are cousins. If you are fighting in the name of religion, I tell you that those who are now ruling Sudan do not know religion, because any religion does not allow the killing of innocent civilians. We are fighting for a just and legitimate cause, for the marginalised in Sudan, and for justice, equality and democracy.”

Arnu Ngutulu Lodi, the spokesperson for the SPLM-N, confirmed to Radio Dabanga that the joint JEM-SPLM-N force destroyed a SAF battalion coming from El Obeid, including three tanks and six vehicles loaded with arms, as well as a tanker. Eight military vehicles were captured.

Lodi said that the SRF troops also managed to destroy another battalion dispatched from Delling to reinforce the first battalion. SRF seized six Land Cruisers from this second battalion.

Reporting by Radio Dabanga