Israel claims shelling on arms convoy

Israeli intelligence sources announced that Israel shelled an arms convoy heading from Khartoum to Gaza last month, destroying 200 tons of weapons. Sudan accused Israel of bombing a weapon factory in Khartoum last week, but Israel avoided commenting the Sudanese accusations. Culture and Information Minister Ahmed Bilal Osman said four radar-evading aircraft carried out an attack at around midnight Tuesday (2100 GMT) on the Yarmouk military manufacturing facility in the south of the city. Evidence apparently pointing to Israel's involvement was found among remnants of the explosives, he told a news conference on Wednesday. Residents living near the Yarmouk factory told AFP an aircraft or missile had flown over the facility shortly before the plant exploded in flames. An AFP reporter several kilometres away saw two or three fires flaring across a wide area, with thick smoke and intermittent flashes of white light bursting above the state-owned factory.