South Sudan says Sudanese Air Force bombed four towns today
South Sudan said Sudan's military carried out aerial bombardments of four South Sudanese towns, a day after beginning ground attacks inside its territory.
At least one Mig fighter struck an area outside Rubkona in the northern Unity state at 8:45 a.m., Gideon Gatpan, the state's information minister, said in a phone interview. Bombings of three other areas inside South Sudan, including the town of Bentiu, also took place early today, according to Colonel Philip Aguer, South Sudan's military spokesman.
``They are using very heavy bombs,'' Aguer said by phone from Juba, the capital. Sudanese forces launched ground attacks into South Sudan yesterday and bombed oil fields in Unity on April 21, missing a central-processing facility ``by some meters,'' he said.
Clashes between the neighboring states escalated since South Sudan occupied the disputed border region of Heglig on April 10. South Sudan announced on April 20 it was withdrawing its forces from the oil-rich region, while Sudan said its soldiers forced them to retreat. Sudan said its "war" with South Sudan started with "liberating Heglig and will continue until we liberate the whole Sudan."
South Sudan Information Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin in a phone interview yesterday accused Sudan of attempting to "draw us back into the war" after his country complied with a United Nations Security Council request to withdraw from Heglig.
Among the other towns targeted in today's strikes were Abiemnhom, an area of Unity state that borders Sudan’s Southern Kordofan state and the disputed territory of Abyei, according to Aguer. The other attack was against Ajak-Kwach, a town inside Warrap state on the border with Unity. Those attacks took place at around 8 a.m., he said.
Sudanese troops began a ground assault on southern army bases in Teshween and Pankuat inside South Sudanese territory yesterday, he said.
Sudanese Information Minister Sanaa Hamad and army spokesman al-Sawarami Khaled didn't answer his mobile phone when called for comment.
South Sudan seceded from Sudan on July 9, leaving unresolved issues including the status of disputed areas along their border and the amount it will pay to transport its oil through a pipeline across Sudan. The south assumed control of about three-quarters of the formerly united country's oil production of 490,000 barrels a day when it gained independence.
Fighting in Heglig oil fields shut down about half of Sudan's entire oil production of 115,000 barrels a day and may have damaged infrastructure, according to the Satellite Sentinel Project, which is led by the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative. The group released satellite images yesterday that appeared to show damage to the collection manifold, which allows oil flows to be separated and combined without interruption.
"The manifold's destruction by some type of explosion, would likely result in cessation of oil flow from the area," Jonathan Hutson, a spokesman for the project, said in an e-mailed response to questions yesterday. "The damage represents a loss to both sides in this ongoing conflict over the disputed oil-producing region."
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