CONCERN premises hit in bombing raid

The NGO CONCERN said on Monday it had evacuated its staff from the town of Nyamlell in southern Sudan’s Aweil west district, Bahr el Ghazal province, after its compound was hit in an air attack on Saturday. A CONCERN spokesman told IRIN no-one was reported hurt in the attack, during which 24 bombs were dropped by an aircraft which made four passes over the town. Two bombs fell on the CONCERN compound, and the evacuated staff were described as “very shaken”. Humanitarian sources told IRIN that civilians in the area had “scattered” after the heavy bombing raid. The agency, which sent its acting country director, Siobhan McGee, to investigate the bombings, said the bombs also fell near the compound of the Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Association (SRRA) and the offices of the local commissioner. A WFP team in the area was also evacuated, confirmed a WFP spokesperson. A week earlier, a clinic run by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was damaged, several homes destroyed and at least one person was wounded in a bombing raid in the tense southwest region of Bahr el Ghazal.