Rebels attack strategic Kassala airport

SPLM commander John Garang on Thursday said his fighters had been responsible for attack on the airport in the northeastern city of Kassala in which, he claimed, an Antonov bomber, the airport’s fuel depot and main ammunition stores had been destroyed. The Sudanese army admitted that the airport tower had been attacked but made no mention of any damage, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported. Garang said the plane had been targeted because it was one of those which has been bombing civilians in south Sudan, and because it was being used to ferry troops from the southern bases of Juba and Wau for the government’s eastern offensive. The attack was “very serious” because Kassala is on the main road from Khartoum to Port Sudan, along which all the country’s imports and exports pass, the BBC added. The Unified Military Command of the Sudanese opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the weekend alleged that the government has launched a major military offensive on Hamash Koreb, Wadi, Zahana and Girgir on the eastern front. The “unjustified attack” came at a time when the NDA had presented a new peace proposal and regional efforts to end the conflict were ongoing, NDA spokesman Lt-Gen Said Abd al-Rahman said in a statement on the opposition ‘Voice of Sudan’ radio. Sudanese army spokesman Staff Lt-Gen Mohamed Osman Yassin, speaking on Thursday on state television, confirmed the fighting in the east and said the areas of Hamadayb, Gagaras and Zahana were now “free from the presence of aggressors”. He said the army had inflicted heavy casualties on rebel forces, and would continue to clear the eastern region of “the remnants of traitors and aggressors”.