Thursday, April 7, 2011

Whose Plane Intercepted Sudan Smugglers?


From YNet:

A mystery still engulfs the airstrike which took place near the airport in Sudan's main port city of Port Sudan on Tuesday, as the Sudanese media released first images of the strike's scene

According to a state government official, an unidentified plane bombed a car driving in the vicinity of the airport, killing two people. The aircraft flew in from the Red Sea but it was not clear to whom it belonged, Ahmed Tahir, the speaker of parliament in the Red Sea state where the port city is located, told Reuters.

The plane involved in the strike was "foreign", the Sudan media center said later. The report, quoting a member of parliament, said the car was on the road leading to the Port Sudan airport when it was attacked by the plane, which was following it.

In January 2009, a convoy of arms smugglers was hit by unidentified aircraft in Sudan's eastern Red Sea state according to Sudanese authorities, a strike that some reports said may have been carried out by Israel to stop weapons bound for Gaza.

A total of 119 people were killed in that strike near Sudan's border with Egypt, according to state media.

Sudan is a known as a smuggling route exploited by terror groups. Last month, Egyptian security forces claimed that they seized five vehicles transporting weapons to the Gaza Strip. It was reported the weapons were seized along the Sudan-Egypt border and included mortar bombs, grenades, rifles and explosives.

The IDF Spokesman’s Office declined to comment on Tuesday's attack.

Palestine Press Agency indirectly quotes Sudanese intelligence officials as saying that the two killed were a Palestinian Arab - and an Iranian.

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