Juba - Sudanese warplanes have bombed South Sudan, wounding six civilians in
areas bordering war zone regions where Khartoum is trying to crush rebel
fighters, reports said on Friday.
Claims of fresh bombing raids raises tensions between the former civil war
foes, but also comes as Sudan's government holds peace talks with rebels.
South Sudan army spokesman Philip Aguer told the independent Radio Tamazuj
that bombs were dropped on Wednesday in the Maban district of Upper Nile
state, which hosts over 125 000 refugees who fled from fighting in
neighbouring Sudan's Blue Nile state.
There was no immediate response from Sudan's army to AFP inquiries.
Khartoum officials are meeting in Ethiopia with rebels from war-torn Blue
Nile and South Kordofan, with African Union mediator Thabo Mbeki calling for
an "urgent" ceasefire.
Peace agreement
Earlier this month the presidents of Sudan and South Sudan agreed to restart
work to demarcate their contested border, a dispute that boiled over into
war between the countries in 2012.
South Sudan split from the north in 2011 following a peace agreement ending
decades of civil war, and the two remain at odds over unresolved issues from
the secession, including the frontier.
Both countries are also battling internal conflicts that spill over their
borders.
Civil war broke out in South Sudan in December.
Sudan's army has been fighting for more than a decade war in the western
Darfur region, and for the past three years, rebellions in South Kordofan
and Blue Nile.
Warplanes earlier this month reportedly also bombed South Sudan's Western
Bahr el-Ghazal region, which borders Darfur.
Local officials told the Radio Tamazuj station that 16 people had been
wounded in Raja county on November 2 after bombs were dropped by unknown
aircraft.