KHARTOUM—Sudanese forces hunted for suspected Darfur rebels in Khartoum on Monday after an unprecedented rebel attack at the weekend and detained Islamist opposition leader Hassan al-Turabi before releasing him.
Bursts of gunfire kept Khartoum on edge. It was the first time fighting had reached the capital in decades of conflict between the traditionally Arab-dominated central government and rebels from far-flung regions in the oil-producing country.
Darfur rebel leader Khalil Ibrahim told Reuters he would keep up attacks until President Omar Hassan al-Bashir's government fell. About 65 people were believed to have been killed in the attack that began on Saturday.
"This is just the start of a process and the end is the termination of this regime," Ibrahim, of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), said by satellite phone. "Don't expect just one more attack."
Sudan accuses neighbouring Chad of backing the rebels and broke off diplomatic ties with its neighbour on Sunday. Chad's government said on Monday it was closing its border with Sudan.
Chad has denied involvement but political analysts say it may have backed the JEM in retaliation for an attack on the Chadian capital three months ago by rebels it said were supported by the Sudanese government.
Exchanges of fire could be heard on the outskirts of Omdurman, across the Nile from the heart of Khartoum and where fighting raged at the weekend. A shooting incident in central Khartoum sent workers fleeing in panic.
An Interior Ministry official said some rebels were still holed up in parts of Omdurman and a curfew there was extended indefinitely.
Government forces rounded up what they said were Darfuri rebel suspects in civilian clothes, but Darfur rebels said thousands of labourers from their region in western Sudan had been arrested and beaten.
Released Without Charge
Opposition leader Turabi and at least four other top members of his Popular Congress Party (PCP) were detained and held for 12 hours. They were released without charge, his daughter said.
Presidential adviser Ghazi Atabani Salahadin told Reuters Turabi's arrest was part of an investigation into possible inside help received by the rebels.
"I'm not sure if they found any evidence ... It was a pre-emptory thing to see if there was any help provided from inside," he said.
The JEM, one of several Darfur rebel groups, has an Islamist agenda and some of its leaders were allies of Turabi in the past, but he denies backing the rebels.
Mutrif Siddig, under-secretary at the Foreign Ministry, said the government was ready for further attacks. He said he doubted Ibrahim's assertion that he was still in Omdurman.
"We have some lessons learned and we will be better prepared if he dares to do so," he said.
The rebels made a lightning advance across 600 km (400 miles) of desert and scrub from the western Darfur region to attack Khartoum on Saturday in what one of their leaders called a bid for power.
A peace deal between north and south ended one civil war in 2005 and boosted Sudan's economy by increasing oil production in the south, but that agreement did not cover the conflict that erupted in Darfur five years ago.
International experts estimate 200,000 people have died and that 2.5 million have been made homeless in Darfur since mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms. The government says 10,000 people have been killed.
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