Sudanese bombs dropped on Chadian town, three killed

Sudanese bombs fell on the border town of Tine Chad on Thursday morning, instantly killing two Chadian civilians, one of them a two-year-old child, and wounding 15 others. One of the wounded died later in a hospital run by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), following surgery to remove shrapnel. Sonia Peyrassol, an MSF spokeswoman, told IRIN from Tine that early on Thursday morning at about 08:00 GMT, Sudanese aircraft had started bombing the border area between the towns of Tine Sudan and Tine Chad. MSF staff, who are treating 40 war-wounded every day at the MSF hospital on the Chadian side of the border, had heard 11 bombs exploding, she said; seven of them had landed on the Chadian side of the dry river bed between the two towns. Two of the wounded had required surgery on Thursday to remove shrapnel, she said; one of them, a woman, had subsequently died. On Thursday afternoon, the Sudanese army captured Tine Sudan, which had previously been held by the Justice and Equality Movement rebel group. Another Sudanese Antonov aircraft had overflown the Tine Chad on Thursday afternoon, said Peyrassol, but did not drop any bombs. The town, meanwhile, had remained calm for the rest of the day and night. MSF staff, who met local authorities from the biggest town in the area, Iriba, about an hour's drive from Tine Chad, said the officials "were waiting for instructions from the Chadian government" on how to react to the bombings. Observers believe the bombing may have been accidental, as Sudanese bombs - very basic steel drums full of dynamite - are often inaccurate. Local authorities in Chad estimate that 35,000 refugees have fled into Tine Chad since July, due to militia attacks and government air raids on the neighbouring Darfur region of western Sudan. Since 9 January the government has bombed Tine Sudan and surrounding villages every day, prompting thousands of people to flee across the border into Chad, according to the Chadian Red Cross. About 7,000 of the refugees are camped in the wadi between the two towns, with some 28,000 others in Tine Chad and its environs. The whole population of Tine Sudan has fled. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees has not yet been able to confirm the number of refugees in Tine Chad, but started registering and counting them on Wednesday.