S.Sudan backs rebel attack in S. Kordofan: Sudan army

Sudanese troops, pictured in Heglig. By (AFP/File)

KHARTOUM (AFP) - South Sudan on Friday backed a rebel attack on the strategic town of Talodi, Sudan's army said on the eve of planned crisis talks between the two nations after earlier clashes caused global alarm.

"They came supported by tanks and cannons from South Sudan," the army spokesman, Sawarmi Khaled Saad, said in a statement issued by the official SUNA news agency.

Rebels said a battle was raging for the town in South Kordofan state, close to the disputed border with South Sudan, but they denied receiving Southern support.