KHARTOUM: Five Sudanese security forces were killed in an ambush by an “outlawed” armed group in the restive Darfur region, police said in a statement Friday.
“A joint security force comprising the armed forces, police and the Rapid Support Forces came under treacherous attack yesterday evening by an outlawed group in Central Darfur state,” the statement said, without identifying the group.
The attack “left five security forces killed including a police lieutenant,” it said, adding that an unspecified number of others were wounded.
It was not immediately clear if there were casualties among the assailants.
Sudan has been reeling from deepening unrest since a military coup in October last year, led by army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan.
The move ousted key civilian groups from power and derailed a fragile transition that had been in place following the 2019 ouster of longtime president Omar Al-Bashir.
The power grab exacerbated political and economic turmoil in the country, and the security situation has also deteriorated, with a spike in ethnic clashes in Sudan’s far-flung regions.
Last month, Burhan pledged to step aside and make way for civilian groups to form a new government, but the main civilian bloc dismissed the move as a “ruse.”
Sudan’s westernmost Darfur region has seen deadly violence since the coup.
In June, more than 125 people were killed in clashes between Arab and non-Arab groups in West Darfur state, according to the United Nations.
Civil conflict erupted in Darfur in 2003, pitting ethnic minority rebels who complained of discrimination against Bashir’s Arab-dominated government.
Khartoum then unleashed the Janjaweed, mainly recruited from Arab pastoralist tribes, who were blamed for atrocities including murder, rape, looting and burning villages.
The scorched-earth campaign left 300,000 people dead and displaced 2.5 million, according to the United Nations.
Many Janjaweed have since been integrated into the feared paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, commanded by General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, now de facto deputy leader of Sudan, according to rights groups.
In 2020, Sudan signed a peace deal with key rebel groups including from Darfur.
The main conflict has subsided over the years, but the region remains awash with weapons and deadly clashes often erupt over access to pasture or water.
On Monday, Daglo said the October coup had failed to bring about change in Sudan.
“The whole thing failed and now we (Sudan) have become worse,” he said.
Five security forces killed in attack in Sudan’s Darfur: police
https://arab.news/886as
Five security forces killed in attack in Sudan’s Darfur: police
- The attack left five security forces killed including a police lieutenant and injured others
- It was not immediately clear if there were casualties among the assailants
Israel defense minister vows to stay in Gaza, establish outposts
- His remarks, reported across Israeli media, come as a fragile US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas holds in Gaza
JERUSALEM: Defense Minister Israel Katz on Tuesday vowed Israel will remain in Gaza and pledged to establish outposts in the north of the Palestinian territory, according to a video of a speech published by Israeli media.
His remarks, reported across Israeli media, come as a fragile US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas holds in Gaza.
Mediators are pressing for the implementation of the next phases of the truce, which would involve an Israeli withdrawal from the territory.
Speaking at an event in the Israeli settlement of Beit El in the occupied West Bank, Katz said: “We are deep inside Gaza, and we will never leave Gaza — there will be no such thing.”
“We are there to protect, to prevent what happened (from happening again),” he added, according to a video published by Israeli news site Ynet.
Katz also vowed to establish outposts in the north of Gaza in place of settlements that had been evacuated during Israel’s unilateral disengagement from the territory in 2005.
“When the time comes, God willing, we will establish in northern Gaza, Nahal outposts in place of the communities that were uprooted,” Katz said, referring to military-agricultural settlements set up by Israeli soldiers.
“We will do this in the right way and at the appropriate time.”
Katz’s remarks were slammed by former minister and chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot, who accused the government of “acting against the broad national consensus, during a critical period for Israel’s national security.”
“While the government votes with one hand in favor of the Trump plan, with the other hand it sells fables about isolated settlement nuclei in the (Gaza) Strip,” he wrote on X, referring to the Gaza peace plan brokered by US President Donald Trump.
The next phases of Trump’s plan would involve an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, the establishment of an interim authority to govern the territory in place of Hamas and the deployment of an international stabilization force.
It also envisages the demilitarization of Gaza, including the disarmament of Hamas, which the group has refused.
On Thursday, several Israelis entered the Gaza Strip in defiance of army orders and held a symbolic flag-raising ceremony to call for the reoccupation and resettlement of the Palestinian territory.
