Khartoum sees hallmark of Israel in east Sudan missile attack

May 22, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese minister of foreign affairs, Ali Karti, has suggested that Israel is likely to be behind an air strike that destroyed a car and killed one person in the country’s eastern city of Port Sudan on Tuesday.

According to early reports by official media outlets, a Toyota Prado car with registration number (09383) “exploded” under an attack from unknown sources at the main entrance of Port Sudan, the capital of the Red Sea State, at around 7:45 am local time.

The driver, identified by Sudan official news agency (SUNA) as “businessman” Nasir Awad Ahmad Saed, was instantly killed. Sources told Sudan Tribune that the Nasir is one of the chieftains of Al-Ababda tribes and one of the richest men in Port Sudan. They said he was running a real estate business and owns a number of hotels in the state.

Later on, the Sudanese Media Center (SMC), a news website with close links to the country’s security apparatus, said it obtained information indicating that the explosion was the result of a targeted missile launched from an airplane.

“The manner in which the car was exploded resembles the way Israel carried out similar attacks in the Red Sea State” Karti told the subtly pro-government satellite channel Al-Shoroug on Tuesday.

Israel neither admitted nor denied responsibility for a similar attack that destroyed a vehicle and killed two people in Port Sudan in April 2011.

Tel Aviv also maintained silence when it was accused of being behind a number of airstrikes carried out in early 2009 against a convoy of arms crossing eastern Sudan allegedly on the way to the Gaza strip which is controlled by the Islamic militant group Hamas.

The Jewish state designates eastern Sudan as a route for smuggling arms to Gaza through Egypt’s Sinai desert. The smuggling activities are believed to be organized by certain ethnic groups in the east.

A spokesman for the Israeli government has declined to comment on Tuesday’s explosion. “I’m not going to respond to generic allegations” Israel’s foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said when contacted by Reuters.

Authorities in the Red Sea State have formed a team to investigate the incident as teams from the criminal investigation department of the interior ministry and the explosions divisions of the defense ministry were expected to arrive in Port Sudan, as reported by SMC.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged in April 2011 that his country executed attacks abroad to prevent Hamas from arming itself.

(ST)