SUDAN - Aug. 8 - Government Bombs 2 Towns.

Samson Kwaje, spokesman for the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army, says government warplanes have bombed 2 rebel-held towns in the south of the country, killing at least 8 civilians. He says the bombers circled over the towns of Tonj and Mapel in Bahr El Ghazal province, on Aug. 7, and dropped a dozen bombs on each location. He says at least 20 people were injured. A UN official in Nairobi reports that at Mapel, 18 bombs were dropped, some close to a relief aircraft. The international charity Medecins Sans Frontieres, which runs health centres in Mapel, says it had evacuated some of its staff following the raid. (The SPLA and other rebel groups have been fighting the Islamic government for greater autonomy for the Christian south. The government has increased bombing raids on the southern province of Bahr El Ghazal in recent weeks following the capture by the SPLA of the government garrison town of Gogrial.) On Aug. 7, aid agencies operating under the UN-led relief effort Operation Lifeline Sudan, accused the government of carrying out 33 bombing raids on civilian targets in July. They said the attacks would "exacerbate further the fragile humanitarian condition of many in the south", where up to a million people are dependent on food handouts.