Bulgaria says 6 nationals working for UN taken captive by rebels in Sudan

Reuters
Boxes and sacks of food are unloaded from a U.N. helicopter in Pibor January 12, 2012. REUTERS/Isaac Billy/UNMISS/Handout

(Reuters) - A Sudanese rebel group has taken six Bulgarians working with the UN's World Food Programme captive after their helicopter was forced to land in war-torn South Kordofan province in southern Sudan, the Bulgarian foreign ministry said on Wednesday. Fighting between the government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North, which the ministry said was holding the Bulgarians captive, has increased in the provinces of South Kordofan and Blue Nile since peace talks collapsed in December.