Sudan rebels attack garrison in South Kordofan

Khartoum – Sudanese rebels have attacked an army garrison in South Kordofan state, a military spokesperson said on Monday, with both sides giving conflicting versions of the fighting.
The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North launched the attack at Mazlagan, west of the town of Dilling, after President Omar al-Bashir announced a month-long extension to a ceasefire in the country’s conflict-hit border regions.
The SPLM-N “attack on the Mazlagan garrison took place on Saturday and they were repulsed and driven off,” said military spokesperson Ahmed Khalifa al-Shami.
Garrison building
More than 13 of the SPLM-N forces were killed and an unknown number wounded while the army suffered no casualties, Shami said.
The rebels gave a different account and said they attacked the garrison on Friday.
SPLM-N forces “killed 30 members of the forces” of the government and destroyed five four-wheel-drive vehicles and burned the garrison building before withdrawing, said spokesperson Arnu Lodi.
Four rebels were killed in the clashes, Lodi said.
The SPLM-N also accused government warplanes of carrying out a bombing raid on the Blue Nile state on Friday that damaged agricultural land and killed livestock.
Shami denied the claim.
The SPLM-N has been battling Bashir’s troops in South Kordofan and Blue Nile state since 2011 when they mounted an insurgency, complaining their areas were being marginalised politically and economically.