Sudan's army said on Friday it has launched a counterattack towards Heglig town in its main oil-producing region where South Sudanese forces took control earlier this week.
"Now we are moving towards Heglig town" and are "close," army spokesman Sawarmi Khaled Saad said in a statement.
"The situation in Heglig is going to end in coming hours," he told reporters, adding that South Sudan had tried but failed to control "all of South Kordofan state."
World powers have urged restraint after the latest round of heavy fighting that broke out on Tuesday with waves of aerial bombardment hitting the South whose troops seized the Heglig oil region from Khartoum's army.
Southern President Salva Kiir and his Khartoum counterpart Omar al-Bashir have accused each other of seeking war, prompting a UN Security Council call for an immediate ceasefire.
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