Sudan's army says kills 15 rebels, retakes part of South Darfur

CAIRO (Reuters) - Sudanese forces retook a southern part of the country's Darfur region after clashing with insurgents, killing 15, a military spokesman said on Tuesday, while rebels claimed victory in fighting in northern Darfur.

Spokesman Al-Sawarmi Khalid Saad said the army had repulsed an attack by rebels loyal to veteran fighter Minni Minawi on the Dubu area in South Darfur state, and the state news agency SUNA said government forces had reasserted control over the area.

Separately, a spokesman for the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) faction led by Abdel Wahed Mohamed al-Nur told Reuters that rebels had stormed and seized three military camps in North Darfur state, killing 64 soldiers.

Events in Darfur are hard to independently verify because of restrictions on media access to the region.

Conflict has torn Darfur since 2003 when mainly non-Arab rebels took up arms against the Arab-led government, accusing it of politically and economically marginalizing the region.

Violence has subsided from its peak in 2003 and 2004, but a surge has forced more than 130,000 people to flee their homes since the start of this year, according to the United Nations.

In 2008, the United Nations said about 300,000 people may have died in Darfur's war, a figure some activists said was too low. The Khartoum government has put the death toll at about 10,000.

(Writing by Maggie Fick; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sudans-army-says-kills-15-rebels-retakes-part-185031921.html

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