Head of Darfur's JEM dead, Sudan says

By Khalid Abdelaziz

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's armed forces have killed the leader of Darfur's most powerful rebel group, state media said on Sunday, dealing a severe blow to insurgents in the remote western region in their nearly decade-long war with Khartoum.

The Darfur conflict has rumbled on since mainly non-Arab insurgents took up arms in 2003, saying the central government had left them out of the political and economic power structure and was favouring local Arab tribes.

Khalil Ibrahim, head of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), emerged as one of the most powerful rebel commanders. In 2008, his group launched a shock attack on Khartoum that killed more than 200 people.

Sudan's authorities have long hunted the leader, who had taken refuge in neighbouring Libya under Muammar Gaddafi until the leader's overthrow deprived him of his safe haven.

Al-Sawarmi Khalid, Sudan's armed forces spokesman, said Ibrahim had been killed early on Sunday morning while trying to cross into South Sudan, which seceded in July under a 2005 peace deal that ended a separate, decades-long civil war.

"The armed forces clashed in a direct confrontation with Khalil Ibrahim's rebel forces, and were able to eliminate Khalil Ibrahim," Khalid told state television.

JEM's spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment on Sunday, but Al Jazeera television quoted Ibrahim's brother as confirming the death, saying he died in an air raid on his military convoy.

The death of Ibrahim - often described as commanding and charismatic - could be a major blow to JEM, although tightly restricted access to Sudan's conflict zones has made it hard to gauge the actual strength and internal unity of insurgents.