By AFP,
Khartoum : A helicopter contracted to UN-led peacekeepers crashed in Sudan’s Darfur region on Monday, killing all four crew members, after being fired at, the Sudanese police said.
The helicopter was contracted by the joint African Union-United Nations peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID) to carry food to a force team site in South Darfur state and came under fire near Kalma camp, a police official said.
“A helicopter hired by UNAMID was shot at from Kalma camp,” Major-General Hashim Osman, the assistant director-general for security and criminal investigations, said.
“The three Russian and one Sudanese crew members were all killed,” he added.
The helicopter crashed close to Kalma camp, a sprawling hut-city for internally displaced people, shortly after taking off from Nyala airport laden with two tonnes of supplies, the state capital of South Darfur.
Police investigators were dispatched to the crash site, said Osman who claimed that a Darfur rebel group was responsible for the incident.
“The people who did this are believed to be from one of the (rebel) movements,” Osman told reporters.
UNAMID spokesman Kemal Saiki said it was reports that the helicopter was fired at.
“There are rumours that the helicopter was shot at, but we can neither confirm or deny this at present,” the UNAMID spokesman said.
“We are investigating now, and we have also sent a rescue team to the site.” Saiki earlier put the toll from the crash at two dead and two missing.
The helicopter is privately owned by a Sudanese company but is painted white as is usual for UN aircraft.
Earlier this month the European Union condemned the Sudanese military’s use of white aircraft in strife-torn Darfur, calling it a deliberate attempt to create confusion with UN planes.
Sudan rejected the claims.
Rebels have also reported that white painted helicopters and fixed-wing planes have scouted their positions and warned of the potential risks if fighters begin to view white aircraft as a threat.
Four UNAMID helicopters have come under fire since the force was set up, with two attacks this month alone.
Helicopters are vital to allowing the understaffed peacekeeping force to cover the vast areas of Darfur, and UNAMID members have called repeatedly for more aircraft to be supplied.
Kalma camp has been tense after battles with government forces last month left more than 30 people dead, including women and children.
Government forces said they were trying to crack down on armed robbers and rebel groups they accused of hiding in the tightly packed camp.
According to the United Nations, up to 300,000 people have died and more than 2.2 million have fled their homes in Darfur since rebels rose up against Khartoum in February 2003. Sudan says 10,000 people have been killed.