SPLM/A claims 150 killed in Nile attack

The rebel SPLM/A claimed on Thursday to have killed over 150 government soldiers in three days of fighting in southern Sudan, news agencies reported. The BBC quoted a statement from the SPLM/A as saying that rebel forces had attacked a Sudanese government convoy of 12 armed steamers travelling on the White Nile between Tonga and Barboy on 10 September. "After a battle lasting three days, SPLA's Central Upper Nile command forces routed the enemy, killing more than 150 soldiers and destroying and sinking two warship steamers with all their contents," SPLM/A spokesman Samson Kwaje said in the statement. In a separate attack, the SPLA claimed to have killed 25 members of a pro-government militia near the town of Pam al-Zaraf. "The SPLA forces intercepted and killed 25 of them on the spot, including deputy leader Captain Gatwal Jok, forcing most of them to disperse towards Pam al-Zaraf," Kwaje said. The Economist Intelligence Unit said on Wednesday that, since they began their dry-season offensive towards the end of 2000, the rebels had scored a series of victories, gaining control of territory in the east and around Bahr al-Ghazal State in central southern Sudan.