CAIRO: Media reports from the US and Britain have claimed that Israel was behind two airstrikes on convoys supposedly transporting arms to Gaza in Sudan in January and February. Britain's The Sunday Times reported Sunday that Israel used unmanned drones to conduct the strikes in late January and early February against the convoys which it claimed were Iranian, according to Western officials. The two attacks reportedly led to the death of 40 people, and occurred near the border with Egypt, in the desert outside the city of Port Sudan. The New York Times reported Friday that according to American officials privy to classified information, the January strikes were conducted by Israel and that Iran was involved with the convoys. The convoy was allegedly carrying rockets intended to be used by Hamas in Gaza. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied their involvement in the attacks. CBS News was also informed by American sources that Israel was behind the attack. Sudanese Foreign ministry spokesman Ali Al-Sadig told Reuters Friday, "The first thought is that it was the Americans that did it. We contacted the Americans and they categorically denied they were involved. We are still trying to verify it. Most probably it involved Israel. "We didn't know about the first attack until after the second one. They were in an area close to the border with Egypt, a remote area, desert, with no towns, no people, he added. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in a speech last Thursday, "Israel operates wherever it is possible to harm terror infrastructure, near and far, but did not comment on the Sudan attack specifically. Al-Shorouk newspaper reported last Tuesday that the planes that carried out the attack were most probably based in Djibouti, according to an Egyptian official. The first official comment on the incidents came from Sudanese state Minister for Highways Mabrouk Mubarak Saleem who told reporters Wednesday that a "major power had bombed a convoy of trucks carrying arms and killing the Sudanese, Ethiopian and Eritrean passengers.
