A Sudanese bomber plane killed 25 rebels today in an air raid on a village in the troubled Darfur region of western Sudan, a rebel commander said.
Bosh Shag Omar, a local commander with the rebel Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), told reporters by telephone the Russian-built Antonov aircraft bombed the village of Tadit, 40 km (25 miles) south of the North Darfur capital el Fasher, at 8 a.m. (local time).
"The bombing killed 25 SLA men and many sheep and camels, a lot of houses are burned and civilians are injured," he said.
Aid workers at Zam Zam, a teeming camp south of el Fasher for thousands of people displaced by violence, said they heard planes bombing south of the state capital between 8 and 9 a.m. local time today.
"You could hear the explosions and see the smoke coming from the south. Everybody in the camp is very nervous," said one aid worker, who asked not to be identified.
Mr Suleiman Mohammed Jamous, the humanitarian coordinator for the Sudan Liberation Army, said earlier in the day that government forces had launched a counter-attack yesterday after the rebels entered the town of Tawilla.
"The government is now bombing one of our bases about 35 km (20 miles) southwest of El Fasher," said Mr Jamous.
Mr Jamous said the rebels had abandoned Tawilla after two days of heavy fighting with government forces. "Our troops are no longer in Tawilla. We are now back in our camps," he said.
Several weeks of skirmishes between Arab militias and African rebels around Tawilla erupted into heavy fighting when about 100 rebels stormed into the transit town early on Monday.
The United Nations has condemned the fresh fighting, which comes two weeks after both government and rebels signed peace protocols in the Nigerian capital Abuja.