US condemns 'provocative' bombing by Sudan

The United States condemned what it called "provocative" bombing by the Sudan Armed Forces near the border with South Sudan, and demanded a halt to such strikes. "The United States strongly condemns in the strongest possible terms the aerial bombardment by the Sudan Armed Forces that occurred near the international border between Sudan and South Sudan, including reportedly the South Sudanese towns of Yafta and Bew Quaffa," said Mark Toner, a State Department spokesman. Such "indiscriminate aerial bombardment of civilian targets always is unacceptable and unjustified," Toner stressed. "The provocative aerial bombardments near the border increase the potential of direct confrontation between Sudan and South Sudan," he added. "This attack only further emphasizes the need for an immediate halt to indiscriminate bombing of civilian areas by the Sudan Armed Forces, and a resolution to the conflict through a resumption of political talks," he said. South Sudan President Salva Kiir earlier accused Khartoum of killing seven people in bomb attacks in Upper Nile state, a key oil producing region that borders Sudan's war-torn South Kordofan. Kiir accused Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir of seeking to divert public attention from mounting domestic woes by blaming the south for conflict in its new border states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile.