Did Israel strike at Sudan to hit Gaza gun-runners?

BBC NEWS | Africa | Mystery over Sudan 'air strike'

Mystery over Sudan 'air strike'


map of Egypt, Sudan and Sinai

A Sudanese government minister has confirmed reports of an air raid in eastern Sudan earlier this year.

The minister, Mabrook Mubarak Saleem, told an Arabic news channel that many people had been killed in the strike, said to have taken place last month.

Earlier reports suggested that those attacked were on their way to deliver weapons to Hamas fighters in Gaza.

Israeli officials have not commented publicly on reports that their planes may have been involved.

The CBS television network said it had been told by American officials that a strike by Israeli planes in January had succeeded in preventing weapons from Sudan reaching Gaza.

Mr Mabrook Mubarak Saleem said the air raid happened in February and that those killed or injured had been civilians from a number of African countries.

Another Middle East-linked mystery. Sudan, which has deep ties to China that might or might not be the pin that keeps everything from collapsing, is not exactly a place to be counted out of being a spot for gun runners who are working with not only Gazan terrorist or other aggressive groups, but Al-Qaeda and anyone else with cash.

This is after all the nation that has been killing, maiming, raping and keeping in misery countless thousands in the Darfur region. All primarily due to religious, ethnic and cultural intolerance. Their government there is trouble, or the ICC would not have issued an arrest warrant for the state's president, Hassan al-Bashir, in early March 2009.


- jR, aka AirFarceOne (Twitter)

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