Ceasefire team probes 'helicopter attack' on village

African Union monitors are investigating claims that the Sudanese military bombarded a village with helicopter gunships, driving terrified farmers from their homes, just days before the expiry of a United Nations deadline to end the violence in Darfur.

Um Hashab village lies in ruins and abandoned after Thursday’s attack on the Sudan Liberation Army, one of two rebel factions waging war against the government in Khartoum.