Sudan said today clashes with rebels in its Darfur region had killed more than 30 policemen, and denied accusations from aid workers that government planes had bombed a town captured by the rebels.
Rebels attacked and seized the town of Tawilla in North Darfur state yesterday, and officials said fighting was continuing as police and army struggled to regain control over the town, where about 30,000 refugees are encamped.
The Save the Children UK organisation said about 30 of its workers were forced to flee on foot when a bomb landed about 50 metres (yards) from one of its feeding centres in the town.
Rebel commanders in North Darfur also said the town had been bombed, but Foreign Minister Mr Mustafa Osman Ismail denied this.
"There are clear instructions to the army that they should not use any bombing. There is no bombing," he told reporters in Khartoum. But he added helicopter gunships may have been used.
Sudan's security chief has said rebels have used villages in Darfur as human shields attracting government bombardment throughout their uprising.
The top UN envoy in Sudan, Mr Jan Pronk, said the rebel attack on Tawilla was a clear violation of the protocols signed earlier this month in the Nigerian capital Abuja between rebels and the government, and expressed concern that the violence had stopped humanitarian operations around the capital of North Darfur state El Fasher.
