Sudan Denies Israeli Air Attacks In East Of Country

Sudanese press reports said that last Thursday Israeli aircraft attacked in eastern Sudan near the border with Egypt.

The “Alintibaha” newspaper, which is owned by a relative of President Omar al-Bashir, reported that Israeli warplanes launched two air strikes on Sunday and Thursday last week, targeting on Thursday a convoy of six Land Cruiser SUV vehicles, killing four people and destroying two vehicles. The newspaper added the convoy which was attacked on Sunday was belonged to “gold prospectors”, who were travelling in Toyota pick-ups, killing all the passengers immediately.

For his part, the Sudanese army spokesman Colonel Alsoarma Khaled Saad, denied the occurrence of a new “Israeli aggression” on the eastern of Sudan, saying: “We do not have assurances on that aggression.” Official government sources also denied any attack by Israeli within the boundaries of the Red Sea province. Other sources described the media reports about an Israeli attack last week as a purely “rumors.” They also failed to confirm reports about the infiltration of an Israeli submarine into the territorial waters of Sudan and the downfall of an Israeli helicopter on an island within the Sudanese territory. The source said Sudanese security organs had not received any reports of such an incident.

It should be recalled that Israeli warplanes targeted the east of Sudan several times during the past years. At least 17 Sudanese fishermen were wounded in January 2009 in such a raid in the Red Sea. This was followed by an Israeli air attack on a convoy Israel claimed was carrying weapons to the Gaza Strip.