Sudan’s army announced Sunday that it had killed leader of the key rebel movement “Justice and Equality” in Darfur Khalil Ibrahim, three days after anti-government forces said they had begun advancing on the capital Khartoum.

Sudan's army announced Sunday that it had killed leader of the key rebel movement “Justice and Equality” in Darfur Khalil Ibrahim, three days after anti-government forces said they had begun advancing on the capital Khartoum.

In a statement it published Sunday on the state media the Sudanese army said: “The Sudanese army announce that they killed Khalil Ibrahim in a fight today in west Wadbanda, North Kordofan."

The official Sudan News Agency (SUNA) had quoted Saturday army spokesman Sawarmi Khaled Saad as saying that “the military was combing the North Kordofan-North Darfur border area after JEM attacked civilians and targeted local leaders while looting their property in the Umm-Gozain, Goz Abyadh and Aramal areas.”

JEM spokesman announced Thursday that the movement’s forces were advancing from Darfur eastward towards Khartoum.

“The group had reached En Nahud, about 120 kilometres (75 miles) east of Darfur in North Kordofan, on a mission to topple the regime led by President Omar Al-Bashir,” JEM spokesman Gibril Adam Bilal said.

On Sunday, Saad said through state TV that “government forces clashed directly with Ibrahim's troops, killing him and a group of his leaders as Ibrahim was on his way to South Sudan.”