UN demands immediate end to Sudan oilfields fighting

The UN Security Council has called for an immediate and unconditional end to fighting on Sudan's southern border.

It expressed its "deep and growing alarm" over the "escalating conflict", and said the situation threatened to return the countries to full-scale war.

Since Tuesday, South Sudanese forces have occupied the Heglig oilfield, on its disputed border with Sudan.

It said the Sudanese air force must stop bombing, while South Sudan withdraw from the Heglig oilfields.

The council also called on all forces to pull back 10 kilometres (six miles) from their shared border, and for the countries to hold an immediate presidential summit, as had been planned previously.

Sudan's ambassador at the UN, Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman, welcomed the statement.

He said if Southern troops don't comply than Khartoum will "chase them out" and "hit deep inside South Sudan".

He dismissed the Council's demand that Sudan also end aerial bombardments, saying reports of such attacks were fiction.

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Two US soldiers dead in Morocco crash

Two United States marines have been killed when their helicopter crashed southwest of Agadir in Morocco.

Another two soldiers were injured in the accident, which happened during joint military exercises with Moroccan forces on Wednesday.

The helicopter, reportedly a MV-22 Osprey, apparently crashed after taking off from the USS Iwo Jima warship.

The crash is now being investigated as a "helicopter incident", a US embassy official told the Reuters news agency.

It happened in a military training area during the annual "African Lion" joint military exercises at Cap Draa.

Around 1,200 US marines, soldiers, sailors and airmen have been in Morocco since the start of April.

The two wounded soldiers have been taken to a military medical facility in Guelmim, 730km (450 miles) south of the capital Rabat.

Further information is being withheld until the next of kin have been notified.