Rebels claim attacks in Sudan's Blue Nile

One rebel fighter was killed and three were wounded in Sudan's Blue Nile state during attacks against military convoys that also left several government troops dead, the insurgents said Tuesday. Sudan's army spokesman could not be reached for comment. Defence Minister Abdelrahim Mohammed Hussein said in November that an operation had begun to crush insurgents. The rebel attacks were launched on Sunday in Bau district, southwest of state capital Ed Damazin, the Sudan People's Liberation Army-North (SPLA-N) said in a statement. Rebel spokesman Arnu Ngutulu Lodi said several bodies of government troops were left "on the ground". "From our side we lost one martyr and three wounded," he said. Analysts say casualty figures from either side in the war should be treated with caution. Access to the war zone is restricted, making verification difficult. Ethnic insurgents from the SPLA-N have been fighting since September 2011 in Blue Nile. A more intense war broke out earlier that year between the rebel group and government forces in South Kordofan state. The unrest is fuelled by alleged political and economic neglect. Blue Nile's governor, Hussein Yaseen Hamed, told a delegation of United Nations officials and foreign diplomats on December 3 that the state is safe. "And we are about to turn over the page of war," he said in Ed Damazin. The UN says 35,000 people from Blue Nile who have fled to neighbouring Ethiopia are among more than one million severely affected or displaced by fighting in Blue Nile and South Kordofan. Source: AFP