Rebels claim killing 79 soldiers in Sudan's Blue Nile

Khartoum (Sudan), April 20 (Xinhua-ANI): Rebels in Sudan's troubled Blue Nile state said on Friday that they had killed 79 Sudanese soldiers in the latest battles on the border with South Sudan, where armed clashes have been taking place since last September.

Arnu Talodi, a spokesman of the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North Sector, said that the battles between its forces and the Sudanese army in an area 39 km south of Damazin, the capital of Blue Nile state, led to the killing of 79 soldiers, while the rebel group lost 3 fighters and 9 members were injured.

"12 soldiers of the Sudanese Armed Forces have been captured during the clashes, which are still going on," Talodi told by telephone. (Xinhua-ANI)