Both the army and rebels of the Sudan Liberation Army's Minni Minnawi faction claimed to have inflicted heavy losses on each other in Monday's battle at Marla, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) southeast of Sudan's second city, Nyala, both sides said on Tuesday,

In another incident, on Sunday night the rebels shelled "in the area" of the Nyala airport but aviation was unaffected, said Hussein Minnawi of the rebels' political bureau.

Army spokesman Sawarmi Khaled Saad confirmed the fighting around Marla but had no immediate information about an incident near the airport.