Rebel raid prompts Sudan to break off Chad relations

Sudan severed relations with Chad yesterday, accusing it of supporting fighters who assaulted the capital the night before, and warned that a top Darfur rebel leader was hiding somewhere in the city.

A curfew was lifted in Khartoum, but remained in effect in the capital's twin city of Omdurman where, the country's official news agency said, more than 300 rebels were arrested yesterday.

The surprise assault late on Saturday was the closest Darfur rebels have come to Sudan's seat of government, hundreds of miles from their bases in the far west of the country. The government issued several statements claiming to have crushed the rebels and paraded images of captured and bloodied fighters on television. State media said 50 rebel trucks were seized in Omdurman and a neighbouring village.

"I would like to assure people that everything is now under control, the rebel forces have been totally destroyed," said Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir in a televised address yesterday.

"These forces come from Chad who trained them ... we hold the Chadian regime fully responsible for what happened," he said. "We have no choice but to sever relations."

Mr Bashir said he reserved the right to retaliate against the "outlaw regime," raising the spectre of a border war between the two countries which have frequently accused each other of supporting rebels.

The assault puts greater pressure on the Sudan government to deal with events in Darfur, where 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been made homeless since 2003. Sudan denies backing the janjaweed militia of Arab nomads accused of the worst atrocities in Darfur.