S. Sudan says Khartoum bombed two oil wells

South Sudan accused Khartoum on Thursday of bombing two oil wells in the north of the new nation and moving troops and weaponry close to an army base near the poorly defined border.    

A Sudanese official denied the allegations. Relations between Sudan and the South have deteriorated in recent months as talks about border disputes and oil transportation fees have floundered, causing the South to shut down oil production.    

Each side has repeatedly blamed the other for flare-ups around the border region.    

South Sudan's government spokesman Barnaba Marial Benjamin said two MiG aircraft dropped six bombs on oil fields in Unity State on Wednesday, violating a non-aggression pact signed by the two countries last month.        

He said there were no casualties in the attack roughly 74 km (46 miles) from the border that destroyed two well-heads and flow lines as well as two cars.    

The Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company, a Chinese/ Malaysian/Indian-owned consortium, runs the oil fields that South Sudan said were hit.    

In Khartoum, Sudan's military spokesman Al-Sawarmi Khalid said Sudanese forces had not been involved in any bombing inside the south.    

South Sudan has accused the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) of bombing several areas of its territory since it gained independence in July last year, including two refugee camps.    

South Sudan's army spokesman Philip Aguer said Sudanese forces were assembling near a base in an area close to the disputed border in Unity State.    

Sudan regularly accuses Juba of offering support to the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF), an umbrella group for militias seeking to unseat the government in Khartoum.       

Reuters