Sudan: Five Claimed Dead and Several others injured in Kadugli Shelling

Khartoum--Five people have been killed and more than 20 others injured in a shelling attack on South Kordofan state capital of Kadugli, claimed by the anti-government SPLM-North rebel group.

Sudanese government has so far confirmed death of five people and 23 injuries from the Monday’s attack in a report carried on the official radio, though other reports claim the number could be higher.

"Five people are martyred and 23 wounded because of the SPLM-North shelling of Kadugli," Radio Omdurman reported on Monday in a text-message news alert.

Witnesses in the area say an estimate of 12 mortars were fired at the area from surrounding hills, lasting for nearly two hours, causing widespread panic and residents to start feeling in all directions. A number of buildings including military centers, government institutions, a school, a bank and a UN compound in the city were damaged in the shelling.

SPLM-N military spokesman Arnu Ngutolo Lodi admitted their responsibility for the attack saying that the bombing was in retaliation to the recent government attacks on their positions with Iranian made rockets (Shahab) and did not target civilians.

“Yes, this is our people who have attacked, we do not target civilians with our actions, our objective is to protect the civilians”, Lodi told Reuters news agency. “We have to fight back and of course to carry out our objective of toppling the government.”

The attack comes as the city was preparing for the launch of a peace conference in South Kordofan on Monday where leading political figures from the government and opposition were expected to attend.

Sudan’s army spokesman Sawarmi Khaled Saad who confirmed the attack accused the rebels of trying to disrupt the peace conference but the Lodi denied the claim saying the attack came in their strategy to overthrow the Khartoum government.

Damian Rance an official with the UN's Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said all UN staff in Kadugli were safe and had were moved “as a precautionary measure” to a base between Kadugli and the local airport used by a UN peacekeeping mission, UNISFA which operates in the Abyei border region contested by both Sudan and South Sudan.

The government forces have been fighting SPLM-N rebels since June last year when it launched a military operation said to disarm rebels in the region. SPLM-N, a faction of South Sudan’s SPLM and had fought along now the south rulers during the north-south conflict that ended with the 2005 peace deal.

The agreement saw the south secede last year in July following a vote in favour of independence.

A possible demarcation of the 1800km border and other unsettled issues have threatened to draw the two sides to war, with both accusing each other of supporting rebels in the other’s territory, claims they both deny.

Sudan and South Sudan signed late last month deals on security and co-operation that they lauded as ending their countries' conflict.

Nigerian Troops Kill Dozens of Civilians

Nigerian soldiers have shot dead more than 30 civilians and burned buildings in the country’s north-eastern city of Maiduguri after an attack targeting them killed their colleague.

The Monday retaliatory attack by soldiers attached to a special army unit policing Maiduguri came after two soldiers were wounded in a bomb blast targeting an army patrol vehicle in the city known to be the stronghold of the armed Islamic Sect Boko Haram.

 An Associated Press reporter in Maiduguri counted 30 bodies and 50 buildings that had been set ablaze in the attack that one of the soldiers at the scene claimed was in response to a bombing nearby earlier in the day that killed a lieutenant.

A spokesman for the military force in the city Lt. Col. Sagir Musa denied that soldiers had not shot any civilian but confirmed that two soldiers were wounded in the bombing. Eyewitnesses say soldiers began to indiscriminately open fire on residents and set fire to homes and businesses.

Unnamed nurses at the local Umaru Shehu hospital told Reuters news agency that 30 bodies in civilian clothes and a further five in military uniforms had been brought in at the hospital mortuary.

The attack has raised concerns over the military committing “extrajudicial killings” while in pursuit of members of the Boko Haram group, where dozens of people killed in massive operations are always referred to as members or sympathizers of the sect.

On Sunday the army said it killed 30 suspected sect members and arrested 60 others following an operation in Damataru, Yobe state’s capital in north-eastern Nigeria.

Civilians have paid a heavy price in the conflict between the army and Boko Haram militants since 2010, being stuck in the middle of the bloody campaigns by the sect and constant harassments from the army.

Boko Haram which loosely translates to “western education is sacrilege” in native Hausa has been waging insurgency in northern Nigeria  attacking mainly Christian churches police installations and leisure spots in drive-by shootings and bombings.

The al-Qaeda linked group wants strict Islamic “sharia” laws imposed throughout the multicultural nation, that is divided between the predominantly Islamic north and the mainly Christian and animists south.

Attacks blamed on Boko Haram have killed some 1,400 people since 2010, though the government claims recent killings of its top leaders is set to weaken the group which recently has changed tactic to attacking mobile phone masts.