KHARTOUM - A Darfur town has been burned to the ground and its residents forced to flee, days after 10 African Union troops were killed there in an attack, a joint United Nations/African Union mission said on Sunday.
The report confirmed rebel statements to Reuters on Friday that the remote southeastern settlement of Haskanita had been all but destroyed. But it did not repeat accusations from insurgents that the Sudanese army was behind the destruction.
More than 7,000 residents of Haskanita fled into the bush or to other towns after it was torched, a spokeswoman for the U.N. said, adding a huge aid operation would be needed to bring them food, shelter and water.
The only buildings to survive were a mosque and a school.
No one was immediately available for comment from the Sudanese armed forces, although state media confirmed government forces had moved into the town soon after the attack on the African Union troops.
A large armed group attacked a small African Union base in Haskanita on Sept. 29, killing seven Nigerian peacekeepers and three other soldiers from Mali, Senegal and Botswana.
The raiders destroyed buildings, vandalised AU armoured personnel carriers and stole arms.
An U.N./AU inspection team visited Haskanita on Saturday and said: "The town, which is under the control of the government, was completely burned down, except for a few buildings."
It said Haskanita's market had been looted and most of the town's civilian population had fled. Just a few townspeople had returned to scavenge for food and water. The U.N. report on the mission did not blame any party for the town's destruction.
