KHARTOUM - Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir announced on Friday that the Sudanese army had retaken the oil-rich Heglig region by force, and troops from South Sudan had fled the battle field, refuting Juba's allegation that its troops had started to withdraw from the region.

Addressing a mass rally in Khartoum to celebrate the liberation of Heglig by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) on the same day, al-Bashir said "armed forces have recovered Heglig by force, and the remnants of the invaders have fled. They are continuing to escape and we are pursuing them."

"What the government of the south said that its forces were withdrawing from Heglig is not true. We have expelled them by force, and we will expel them from anywhere in Sudan," the Sudanese president said.

Al-Bashir pledged to free all areas which are still controlled by rebels in the states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile, both neighboring South Sudan, where the Sudanese government forces have been fighting the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North Sector since last year.

"We will work to liberate every area from the dirty proxies, and we will expel all insects of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) from any places," al-Bashir said.