Reports in Sudan: Israel struck two weapons convoys in past month

The Israel Air Force struck two Gaza-bound arms convoys in the past month, according to reports that have surfaced in the last few days.

According to two Sudanese media outlets, Israel launched two attacks in recent weeks. The outlets, however, don't present a uniform version on the dates. One claims the attacks took place at the end of November and on December 15, the other says they occurred on December 15 and December 18.

The attack at the end of November, one media outlet says, targeted two vehicles in the area of Wadi Al-Allaqi in northern Sudan, near the border with Egypt, and left two people dead and another two wounded.

The second incident, on December 15, saw Apache helicopters over an island off the Sudanese coast. Other reports spoke of Israeli submarine activity off the coast of the African state.

On the other hand, reports appearing in the Al-Intibaha daily speak of an attack on December 15 against a convoy of vehicles that left four civilians dead. The second attack, three days later, also reportedly targeted a vehicle. According to the report, all occupants of the vehicle were killed.

For its part, the Sudanese army has rejected reports of Israeli aerial activity over the country. The Sudanese army spokesman, Col. Sawarmi Khaled Saad, said the country's aerial defense systems had not recorded any infiltration into the country's airspace.

The Sudanese military over the weekend dismissed reports of recent Israeli airstrikes in the country.

Sudanese military spokesman, Colonel Al Swarmi Saad, said that no attacks were detected by Sudan's radar systems.

In April of this year, an airstrike in Sudan targeted a car in which there was a Sudanese citizen and, according to Al-Arabiya, an Islamist involved in arming Hamas.

According to foreign media reports, that Israel has not confirmed or refuted, the Israel Air Force struck Sudan at least twice, in January and February 2009, immediately after the end of Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip. In one case, a convoy of trucks carrying weapons to Gaza was struck and 119 people were killed. In another case, a ship was bombed from the air.

At the time, reports were also published about operations by naval commandos in Sudan's ports, as part of efforts to stem weapons smuggling.

Israel Navy ships and submarines sailed through the Suez Canal a number of times, in coordination with the previous regime in Egypt, and experts surmised that this was connected to anti-weapons smuggling activities in the Red Sea.

	A photo of an attack on Port Sudan on April 5, 2011.
	Photo by: Sudan Tribune