Dozens Killed In Clashes Between Sudan Army And Rebels

Clashes erupted between Sudan's army and rebels in the western Darfur region and in a southern state, killing dozens of people including civilians, the sides said on Friday, the latest violence in the country's borderlands.

Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir is battling an alliance of rebel groups operating in Darfur and two states bordering its neighbour South Sudan.

Sudan accuses South Sudan of supporting the rebels, while Juba says Khartoum funds militias in South Sudan. Diplomats say that both allegations are credible.

South Sudan split from Sudan last year under a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of civil war, but the two have remained at odds over a range of issues and conflict has continued to plague their borderlands. The nations came close to war in April.

Sudan's military spokesman al-Sawarmi Khalid said the army killed 77 rebels in two separate clashes on Thursday in South Kordofan, a state bordering South Sudan, and in North Darfur state.

The army is fighting rebels of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-North) in South Kordofan and Blue Nile, another state bordering South Sudan.

Khalid said SPLM-North rebels attacked the village of Hajr al-Dum in South Kordofan. He said 45 rebels and 21 civilians were killed in the violence, among them women and children.

"The armed forces are continuing to expel the rebels from the area," he said.