E-MAIL THIS LINK
To: 

Sudan Rebels Kill 79 Troops, Militia in Blue Nile
[An Nahar] Rebels in Sudan's Blue Nile said on Friday that they had killed 79 government troops and cut-throats in two ambushes in the ethnically divided state near the border with South Sudan.

The attacks came on Tuesday and Wednesday in roughly the same area, mountainous terrain about 35 kilometers south of the state capital Ed Damazin, said Arnu Ngutulu Lodi, front man for the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N).

The group, which was a civil war ally of the former rebels who now rule independent South Sudan, has been fighting for several months in Blue Nile and South Kordofan states, both of which border the South.

Sudan's army front man could not immediately be reached.

Lodi, whose forces deny being supported by the South, said there has been an upsurge in fighting in Blue Nile since border festivities between Sudan and South Sudan escalated last week with waves of air strikes hitting the South, and Juba seizing the North's Heglig oil hub on April 10.

Heglig is part of South Kordofan.

Lodi alleged Khartoum is using the Heglig standoff as an opportunity to mobilize militias and other fighters against the SPLM-N.
Posted by: Fred 2012-04-21
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=343202