SUDANESE government bombs killed 18 civilians in southern Sudan on Monday, according to joint charges by rebels, aid workers and a visiting senior US official. Susan Rice, US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, lambasted the Khartoum regime after a two day “humanitarian assessment” visit to the south. Echoing a statement released by rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), she said here that “18 innocent civilians” had been killed on an “outrageous attack” on Yei, a large town in western Equatoria. But Rice, who did not visit Yei but met air raid victims elsewhere on her two-day tour, rejected the SPLA’s view that by carrying out a spate of bombings, Khartoum was targeting Rice and her delegation. “I don’t share that view at all,” she told journalists on her return to Nairobi. “This is unfortunately close to a daily occurrence throughout southern Sudan and it has been for many many months, and in fact years,” she said. – AFP