A western Sudanese rebel group said on Friday 353 rebels, pro-government militiamen and troops had been killed in two days of fighting over an area with water in the arid Darfur region.
| Those casualty figures coming out of Darfur are really heavy. Either there's some ferocious fighting going on there, or there are some first-class liars providing the information... |
Government officials were not immediately available for comment about fighting in the area around 70 km southeast of Tina in Northern Darfur state. Officials have previously said there were military operations in the area. Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) Secretary-General Minni Arcua Minnawi said 250 government fighters and seven rebels were killed in fighting on Thursday. A day later, 91 on the government side and five rebels were killed, he said.
| If those kill ratios are true, we'd better sign these guys up for Iraq... |
âWe defeated them and kept control of an area with two dams. We killed many of their men and captured some of their military cars,â Minnawi said. The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), the second main rebel group in the area, said it had also fought government troops and militias in the area but did not have casualty figures. |