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US: Israel attacked convoy in Sudan
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Fri, 27 Mar 2009 12:21:00 +0000 |
(Press TV) -- The United States says a January air strike on a truck convoy in Sudan which killed dozens of people was carried out by its ally, Israel.
Citing two American officials, The New York Times reported Friday that the attack on a convoy of 17 trucks in Sudan was an Israeli operation to prevent what they call "arms smuggling" into the Gaza Strip.
The two, who the newspaper said are "privy to classified intelligence assessments," accused Iran of being involved in 'smuggling weapons' into Gaza.
But one former official was quoted by the daily as saying that the exact origin of the arms was unclear.
Sudanese government spokesman Rabie A. Atti however dismissed the allegations saying "I've heard this allegation, but it's not true. It was genocide, committed by US forces."
The attack had not been publicized until Sudanese officials said Thursday that a convoy of trucks in the remote eastern part of Sudan had been bombed by "American fighters".
They said the reports had not been emerged because they had to fully investigate the incident.
Times however quoted an American military official as saying that the attack "fits exactly with the pattern of how Israel operates."
Brig.-Gen. (res.) Shlomo Brom, director of the Program on Israel-Palestinian Relations at Tel Aviv University's Institute for National Security Studies, said Israel bombing a weapons convoy in Sudan seemed "very logical."
The US and Israel signed a deal to prevent "arms smuggling" into Gaza after Israel failed to achive its goals it set agaisnt Hamas in Gaza.
Tel Aviv launched its Operation Cast Lead to prevent the democratically elected government of Hamas from firing rockets into Israel and arming its fighters but had to stop the war after failing to do so.
Israel had to declare a truce after 22 days of fierce fighting which left more than 1,300 Palestinians killed and thousands of others wounded.
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