Sudan militia kills 17 civilians

Khartoum-backed militia in Sudan's South Kordofan state have killed 17 civilians, rebels said yesterday, adding to tensions with South Sudan over a failure to implement security agreements.
The rebels accused a group of ethnic South Sudanese of ambushing a civilian lorry on Friday at Abu Nuwara, about 80 kilometres from the border with South Sudan's Upper Nile state.
In addition to the dead, 35 people were wounded, the incident occurred in a government-controlled area.
South Sudan's army last Sunday accused Sudan of launching a deadly air assault along the frontier in Upper Nile state, and local government officials in South Kordofan reportedly blamed South Sudanese militia for attacking nomads on the Sudanese side of the boundary.