In the hills surrounding the village of Kauda, in the heart of the Nuba mountains, children spend their days hiding amidst the rocks. Their families fear the aerial bombardments and so put them here together whilst they try to work the fields.

Many of the Nuba, however, have fled their homes and the region. Here, a group of Nuba walk across scrubland south-east of Kadugli with a few belongings packed into suitcases, hoping to find a way out of South Kordofan.

Many children have been injured in the bombings. At this health facility in the Nuba mountains -- the only hospital in the region -- a child sits on a bed covered by mosquito nets.

A group of children peer from a cave in a dried river bed as they take shelter from aerial bombardments. As well of the threat of the aircraft, they also fear snakes and other animals living in the caves. "We saw a snake go in once, but when a plane flew we had to take cover" said one child. "We never saw the snake come out again."

In a small clinic nestled amongst the hills, evidence of the bombing by Khartoum's army is starkly apparent as the sole doctor here shows a bomb fragment that was lodged in the hip of Winassa Steven, a sixteen year old student. Winassa was hit by the shrapnel when Sudanese Armed Forces bombed her village of Kurchi three days ago previously she was washing clothes at the village's only borehole.

A group of SPLM-North troops drive through the rocky roads in the Nuba mountains of Sudan's South Kordofan state, transporting with them a civilian lady in this unforgiving landscape.

Cola Kuku Codi, a former SPLM-North fighter, sits in a coffee-house in Kauda, the base of the SPLM-N in South Kordofan. He is no longer fighting, but staying to protect his village. But he is prepared to go back to fight. "Now I am ready if they want to take me on a mission" he says, adding "I don't think peace will happen again with these people [the Khartoum government]."

Tom Catena, an American doctor working in a medical facility in the Nuba mountains, is the only doctor here. "After the 9th of July [South Sudan's independence], who know what is going to happen" he says, when the South will no longer have any form of official authority in the region; until then it is a semi-autonomous zone. He says that people here are now a little more anxious than before the war.

Viviana Issa lies paralysed in a bed at a medical facility in Sudan's Nuba mountains. "I don't know what to do with this girl" says the only doctor in this facility. Viviana is leaking spinal fluid, and paralysed from the chest down after her spinal cord was severed by a bomb fragment hit her in the neck, breaking vertebrae. The bombing also killed two of her siblings.

Mothers and their children flee into a cave in the hills surrounding Lwere in Sudan's Nuba monutains as an aircraft flies overhead. Hundreds of families have fled their villages, taking refuges in the hills after being terrified by frequent bombing by Sudanese Armed Forces in the region.

A mother looks out of a cave, terrified, as she takes shelter from an aircraft flying over the hills surrounding Lwere.

Bombings have terrified the local communities, causing many to flee their homes. But with this being the height of the planting season, in a region where most people are subsistence farmers, leaving fields untilled could lead to wide-spread hunger come the harvest season.

Fawzya Osman continues to cultivate her land just outside of Kauda, in the Nuba mountains, despite the bombardments. She narrowly escaped a bombing which killed one lady and injured four. "When the Antonov [bomber] came, it didn't give them a chance, it immediately dropped the bombs" she says. Whilst many of those living around her have fled to the surrounding hills, Fawzya says she needs to continue working her land if she is to have enough food to eat.

Humanitarian aid workers take shelter from Antonov bombers flying over Kauda. The Nuba Mountain region of South Kordofan has been under attack by Sudanese Armed Forces, causing 70,000 to flee, and those who rest remain terrified. Despite the signing of a peace framework two days previously, the Sudanese army continues to bomb the Nuba mountains.

For many, though, the threat of bombings is too great; they have left their homes, and take refuge in the surrounding mountains. Koji Jacob holds her head in her hands beside her sister, Jamia Jacob, and grand-daughter Nidia as they shelter under a boulder in the mountains above their village of Kurchi, which has been hit by several bombs. The people here stay on the mountainside during the day, returning to their homes only to sleep at night, when the threat of the aircraft has passsed.

Jacomo Tia Jibril (4) lost his hand and half of his forearm as a result of the bombing of his village of Kurchi by Sudanese Armed Forces fifteen days previously. He was washing clothes at the only borehole in the village when the bombing occurred. After fleeing from the sound of the aircraft, Jacomo says "immediately after, I found my hand hanging off", which later had to be amputated in the facility.

A child spends his afternoon in a cave in the Nuba mountains, as his family and fellow villagers shelter from the risk of bombs in the region.

In the hills above the compound of Abdel-Aziz Al-Hilu, many families including twenty-two year old Zuhour Bashir and her daughter Naniya (3), take shelter around some caves in the hillside. Zuhour has 3 children, and has been sheltering here for one month. Blasts and shrapnel from the bombings are visible on the walk up to these hills. "I have seen so many Antonovs here, it is very scary. The children are all crying" says Zuhour.

Five year old Aysha Ahmed Ramadan sits in a cave in the hills surrounding Lwere as she takes shelter from the sound of planes flying overhead. The land around this cave has been bombed several times by Sudanese Armed Forces.

An armed Nuba, affiliated with the SPLM-North, walks up a mountainside near to Kurchi in the Nuba mountains.

Mursila Timas (10) has had one foot amputated, the other seriously damaged, and has an injured thumb and infection, risking the amputation of her hand. She was hit by shrapnel as a bomb exploded in her village of Kurchi.

A girl stands next to her family's washing near a cave in the Nuba mountains. Life has taken an almost everyday quality in the hills above Kurchi, as the families taking refuge here continue their daily chores amongst the rocks.

Unable to work their fields, a group of women braid their hair during the monotony of days on the hillside above Kurchi.

In a cave above Kurchi, a woman sits in the 'kitchen' of her group of several families, boiling water for tea.

For others, though, they just hope to leave. Joseph from Kauda says "I hope to get to Kenya, to take refuge ... for the sake of security - I don't feel secure here".

Joseph left Kauda two days ago, and sitting with his only possessions is taking shelter, hiding under a tree as Anotonov bombers drone overhead.