The Sudanese army denied on Wednesday an allegation by some western media that a rebel movement in the conflict-torn western Sudanese region of Darfur had shot down a military fighter Mig 29 of the army.
Osman Mohammed Al-Agbash, the spokesman of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), told reporters that what had been reported by a number of western media that a Mig 29 of the SAF had been shot down by the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) at the Adila area in Darfur was "totally baseless".
By this allegation, the spokesman said, the JEM wanted to tell the international community that the SAF had recaptured Adila, which had been temporarily seized by the rebel militants in an assault last week, through air bombardment, which was not the truth.
"The army defeated the JEM elements in a land fighting," the spokesman noted.
The United States had suggested to impose a "no-fly zone" in Darfur, but the proposal has been refused by the Sudanese government.
The JEM was one of the main rebel groups which took arms against the Sudanese government in February 2003, causing the current crisis in the region.
The Sudanese government said that some 9,000 people had been killed and one million displaced during the past four and half years, while the western media claimed that much more had been killed in the conflicts.
Source: Xinhua
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