Sudanese official: Israel behind raids

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Sudanese official: Israel behind raids

By SARAH EL DEEB – 1 hour ago

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — Sudan believes Israel was behind airstrikes on its soil

last month that targeted weapons smugglers, apparently on suspicion the arms

were destined for Hamas militants in Gaza, a senior Sudanese official said

Friday.

Word of the airstrikes in a remote area of northeastern Sudan emerged this week.

If Israel were behind them, it would be a rare instance of the country taking

military action beyond its borders to try to cut off the flow of arms to the

Palestinian militant group in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said Israel would not comment on the

reports. But outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Thursday hinted Israel had

carried out the strikes. " We operate everywhere where we can hit terror

infrastructure, " he said in a speech, without directly mentioning Sudan.

Earlier, Sudan's State Minister for Transportation Mubarak Mabrook Saleem blamed

the United States for the strikes, which he said took place a week apart in

early February in a region near the Sudan-Egypt border. He said they hit

smugglers trucks carrying weapons, but also trucks carrying African migrants

seeking to sneak across the border.

U.S. officials denied involvement. On Friday, a senior Sudanese official noted

the American denials, and said Khartoum suspects Israel in the attack.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because an official statement from

the government on the subject was expected later Friday. The official didn't

elaborate on Israeli involvement.

Sudan's army spokesman, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Osman Al-Aghbash, said the Sudanese

Foreign Ministry had been in contact with Egypt and " all the concerned parties "

about the strikes. But he refused to lay blame in an interview with an Islamic

news web site, Islam Online, through which Sudanese officials frequently release

information.

Details of the strikes remain unclear. Saleem and other Sudanese officials have

spoken of casualties but have given conflicting numbers.

Al-Ray Al-Am, a Sudanese daily close to the government, reported Friday that

more than 60 people were killed in the strikes, when three airplanes struck

vehicles near the Sudanese-Egyptian border. It said 25 vehicles carrying

migrants and weapons were destroyed.

The paper quoted unidentified Sudanese officials, but did not give the dates of

the strikes or specify whether the figures were from a single strike or both. It

said forensic teams picked up remains from the missiles, which are currently

under investigation to determine their type.

Sudanese Foreign Minister Deng Alor told The Associated Press his country had no

grounds to suspect American involvement in the attacks. Alor declined to pin the

blame on Israel, saying investigation are still underway.

" We can't confirm who (was behind it), " he said. Alor said two or three strikes

hit smuggling routes in eastern Sudan. Alor condemned the smuggling, saying his

country " can't afford it. "

Arab and U.S. media reports said Israel was behind the attacks because the

convoys were smuggling weapons to Egypt destined for Gaza. The militant Hamas,

which rules Gaza, smuggles weapons in through tunnels along the Egyptian border.

Israel waged a devastating 22-day offensive in Gaza this year trying to stop

Hamas rocket fire against Israeli towns. More than 1,400 Palestinians were

killed in the assault, according to a Palestinian human rights group.

A new Egyptian newspaper, Al-Shurooq, was the first to report on Saleem saying

two convoys trying to cross into Egypt were bombed by American jets. It said

there were suspicions that the convoys carried weapons for Gaza.

In January, the U.S. signed an agreement with Israel calling for an

international effort to stanch the flow of weapons to the Hamas, which trains

them on Israel. Israel's war in Gaza earlier this year was launched to stop

near-daily rocket attacks on nearby Israeli communities and to stem the arms

flow.

In recent years, Israel has been linked to an airstrike in Syria that the U.S.

says destroyed a covert nuclear facility. It also has been accused to last

year's assassination of a top Hezbollah operative in a car bombing in Damascus.

Israel has not confirmed either incident.

(This version CORRECTS Corrects to northeastern Sudan, sted northwestern in 2nd

paragraph)

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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Anyone want to bet the UN will slam Israel for this while continuing to ignore Sudan's genocide?

In a message dated 3/27/2009 12:48:29 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, no_reply writes:

Sudanese official: Israel behind raids Feeling the pinch at the grocery store? Make dinner for $10 or less.