NAIROBI - A rare video shot by a soldier in a unit nicknamed the “match battalion’’ shows Sudanese troops burning a village in southern Sudan last year.

The 5-minute cellphone video shows bright orange flames burning through a stick-hut village. One soldier carries a flaming torch as the sound of gunfire cracks in the background.

The video was shared Monday with the Associated Press by Ryan Boyette, an American who lives in Southern Kordofan, a state in Sudan where rebel fighters often associated with South Sudan are battling troops from the Sudanese Armed Forces.

The video was found on the body of a dead Sudanese soldier, Boyette said. He estimates that the burning of the village took place last August. Boyette said the video is the first visual record of Sudanese troops burning villages to surface during the one-year conflict.

Boyette said Monday that the Sudanese Armed Forces usually burn villages they occupy in areas controlled by rebel fighters for the Sudan People’s Liberation Army-North.