Sudan beats back rebel attack?

NY Times:

Darfurian rebels staged a bold attack on Saturday on Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, advancing to within a few miles of the city’s center, according to the government and the rebels.

By nightfall, it seemed that government forces had beaten them back, but only after declaring a citywide curfew, deploying attack helicopters and hundreds of troops and essentially shutting down the city.

“Let there be no mistake about it, everything is under control,” said Rabie A. Atti, a government spokesman. “The rebels didn’t succeed. We have them surrounded. They are now running away from us.”

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Leaders of the Justice and Equality Movement, one of the bigger rebel groups, quickly claimed a victory.

“Our forces are everywhere in the capital,” a London-based rebel spokesman, Ahmed Hussein Adam, told Agence France-Presse by telephone.

However, a Western aid worker who lives in central Khartoum said things were quiet. “There’s nothing obvious I can see,” said the aid worker, who was not authorized to speak publicly. “The streets are empty. Everyone has gone home. It’s just a quiet night.”

Mr. Rabie said the skirmishes were confined to Northern Omdurman, a Khartoum suburb along the marshy banks of the Nile River. Residents said they had heard heavy, continuous shelling and saw rebel pickup trucks burning in the streets.

“We never expected this, not here,” said Selma Suleman, one of the residents. “People are scared.”

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The reports are confused. Are the rebels surrounded or fleeing. It is hard to have them in both circumstances. On the other hand the rebel statement that their forces are everywhere in the city is also confused. It does not sound like a coordinated attack. It is possible that some units may be surrounded and others not. In all the report is as confused as the war in Sudan.