The Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have captured an area from rebels east of Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan, according to both rebel and army spokesmen.

The spokesman for the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF), Colonel El Sawarmi Khalid Saad affirmed in a statement on Friday that they seized large quantities of war equipment from the SPLA-N, including large mortars, machine guns, and considerable number of small arms and ammunition in the area of El Atmor, east of Kadugli, between Um Sirdiba and Daldogo.

A rebel spokesman acknowledged losing territory to the Sudanese army but denied losing weapons and materiel.

According to Sawarmi, the rebels fled the battlefield, leaving behind a number of dead. He reported that a number of government forces were killed and wounded as well, but did not specify how many.

'Tactical withdrawal without losses'

The Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF), a coalition of rebel groups in Sudan, confirmed that there was a battle with government forces in El Atmor.

Arnu Ngutulu Lodi, spokesman for the SPLA-N, acknowledged that the rebel forces withdrew ‘tactically’ from El Atmor to the surrounding areas.

But he strongly denied the statement of El Sawarmi that the rebels' weapons and ammunition were captured by the government forces. “What he claims is untrue; the SPLM-N has withdrawn for tactical reasons, without losses, and the spirits high,” Lodi stressed to Radio Dabanga.

He added that the rebels will counter-attack the government forces soon.

Reporting by Radio Dabanga

File photo: Local residents welcome soldiers returning from battlefield, in El Rahad, North Kordofan, on 28 May 2013, after the army announced that it liberated Abu Karshula in South Kordofan (Xinhua/Mohammed Babiker)