Chinese workers 'freed in Sudan'

30 January 2012 Last updated at 06:57 GMT Army spokesman Sawarmi Khaled Saad said the rebels were targeting civilians. Sudanese troops have freed 14 out of 29 Chinese workers held by rebels in the south, Sudanese officials say.

State media quoted South Kordofan governor Ahmed Mohamed Haroun as saying that the military "liberated" the workers, who were in good health.

The search for the remaining Chinese workers - who were involved in the construction of a road - is continuing.

The workers were abducted by rebels in the volatile South Kordofan region on Saturday.

Mr Haroun said the Chinese workers were now in Eld Obeid in North Kordofan.

A spokesman from the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) rebels told the AFP news agency on Sunday the workers were caught in crossfire with the army.

He said they were captured together with nine Sudanese soldiers after the SPLM-N attacked and destroyed a Sudanese military convoy in the area.

However Wang Zhiping, a senior executive of the Power Construction Corporation that employed the workers, told China's Xinhua news agency the rebels had attacked the workers.

Sudan's army also said the rebels had attacked the compound of the Chinese construction company and captured 70 civilians.

"Most of them are Chinese. They are targeting civilians," army spokesman Sawarmi Khaled Saad told Reuters news agency.

South Kordofan is one of three areas hit by conflict since South Sudan became independent from Sudan in July.

Abyei and Blue Nile along with South Kordofan lie along the loosely demarcated border between Sudan and South Sudan.