North Sudan's army appears to have gained control of the main town in Sudan's disputed Abyei region after fierce fighting with the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), UN and rebel sources said.
UN officials saw 15 tanks of the Sudanese Armed Forces, the northern army, on Saturday in parts of the key town Abyei where earlier mortars slammed against a UN base, Hua Jiang, the UN spokeswoman said. One of those mortar rounds exploded, but there were no casualties among UN personnel, Jiang said.
"The SAF have entered (the town) Abyei, there is still fighting but they have come with tanks, they are shooting and shooting," Philip Aguer, SPLA spokesman, said. "Our police have been fighting but the SAF have sent many soldiers in," he added, speaking by phone from Juba, the capital of southern Sudan.
He said northern forces bombed at least four villages on Saturday afternoon in continuation of last week's attacks.
Aguer added that two of the bombed villages were Todach and Tagalei which had been already hit on Friday - a reference to the southern army's allegations that the northern army had begun bombing Abyei that day after previous clashes on Thursday.