U.S. Accused Of Killing 39 In Sudan Strike

(AP / CBS)
CBS News national security correspondent David Martin has been told that Israeli aircraft carried out the attack. Israeli intelligence is said to have discovered that weapons were being trucked through Sudan, heading north toward Egypt, whereupon they would cross the Sinai Desert and be smuggled into Hamas-held territory in Gaza.
In January, the U.S. signed an agreement with Israel that calls for an international effort to stop arms smuggling into Gaza. Hamas was showering rockets on Israeli towns, and Israel had responded by invading Gaza. More than 1,000 Palestinians were reportedly killed in the December-January war, and 13 Israelis lost their lives.
In the airstrike in Sudan – said to have been "in a desert area northwest of Port Sudan city, near Mount al-Sha’anoon," according to SudanTribune.com – 39 people riding in 17 trucks were reportedly killed.
The first government official in Sudan to talk about it was the state minister for highways, Mabrouk Mubarak Saleem, who said: "A major power bombed small trucks carrying arms – burning all of them. It killed Sudanese, Eritreans, and Ethiopians and injured others."
According to SudanTribune.com, the airstrike was an "embarrassment" to Sudan’s government, and it discussed the matter with Egypt’s government – allied with the U.S. on most issues – "to gather more information to formulate a response."
The Web site added: "American and Israeli diplomats said the [January] agreement includes intelligence coordination to prevent arms from Iran from entering Gaza, maritime efforts to identify ships carrying weaponry, and the sharing of U.S. and European technologies to discover and prevent the use of weapons-smuggling tunnels."
If Israeli airplanes carried out the attack in Sudan, it would suggest that there is a shadow war against Hamas and its weapons sources that is wider than the Israeli or U.S. government has revealed.
Dan Raviv is a CBS News correspondent in Washington.
The secrets of tennis legend
well man!!! did you know that most of darfur population ARE Muslims??? (killed millions of Darfur residents)that is huge man!!!! form where did you get your info?
i say :killing ONE human is BAD but spreading lies which could affects millions is MORE worse
wether its Iranian arms bombed in Sudan or American arms bound for Israel is not the main problem.
The problem lies with the Israeli`s greed for more land , land being stolen daily from the West Bank as new settlements or as material quarried illegaly and shiped back to Israel .
The longer the conflict goes on the harder it will be to pry them off. It will also harden the worlds view of America, who it would seem to assist these illegal, immoral and disgusting acts.
It would also be a good thing to see other Western forces in Darfur helping to block the ethnic cleansing by the Sudanese government.
Posted by babooph.
Let them try but they won't ever succeed. Remember that Syria lost 80 planes to zero for the Israelis over the Bekka Valley in 1982 and some of those Syrian planes were piloted by experienced Russian combat pilots.
They're both terrorists.
Posted by wyodutch at 6:01 PM : Mar 25, 2009
One is about as effective as the other'
it is the personal commitment that makes the difference.
They're both terrorists.
Posted by babooph
How would you react if those weapons were going to be used against you?
- by frank-e1 March 25, 2009 3:36 PM EDT
- Guess that's it for the annual paintball tournament. Dang it!
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