An American missionary recounted Tuesday the bombing of some 300 people at a church in southern Sudan on November 5.
Elise Glading, of the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, told AFP in Johannesburg, where she was taking a break, that the Antonov plane (an aircraft used by the Sudanese air force) dropped eight bombs on the congregation at Jambo, in Western Equatoria state, after bombing the village of Tapiri, some 20 kilometers (12 miles) away.
"We noticed the aircraft over the area at 8:40 am," she said, "and heard bombing in the distance about 8:50 am.
"The service started at 9:00 am, and at 9:20 am we noticed the plane was right above the church.
"We ran out and jumped into two bomb shelters right beside the church -- just big holes in the ground.
"The aircraft dropped four bombs, and then came back and dropped four more, with the last one really close, about 20 yards (meters) away. We were covered with dirt, but by the grace of God no one was hurt."
Reports from Tapiri said no one was hurt in the bombing there either, Glading said.
The mainly Christian and animist Sudan People's Liberation Army rebels of southern Sudan have been fighting Khartoum's successive Arab and Islamic governments since 1983 – JOHANNESBURG (AFP)
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