Sudan airstrike front page news in Israel
2011-04-06 14:12
Jerusalem - The overnight airstrike on a car on Sudan's Red Sea coast which killed two people made the front pages of all of Israel's main newspapers on Wednesday.
"IDF carried out an attack in Sudan" read the front page story in the top-selling Yediot Aharonot, the headline inside quotation marks.
"Planes which approached from the Red Sea assassinated wanted men in Africa," read the strapline, although the entire article quoted foreign media sources.
Sudanese officials said the unidentified plane, which struck at about 22:00 (19:00 GMT), flew in from the Red Sea and attacked a small car near Port Sudan airport, before flying off in the same direction.
There was no immediate word on the identity of the two victims, nor of the attacking plane.
"Last night: Mysterious attack in Sudan," was the headline in the rival Maariv newspaper, noting that Israeli officials refused to comment on the attack but also pointing to international press reports citing Israeli involvement in a previous attack in January 2009.
News of the attack was also carried on the front pages of Israel HaYom, a freesheet considered close to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which billed it as "Liquidation in Sudan" and also appeared as a last-minute bulletin in the left-leaning Haaretz.
Israeli officials have in the past expressed concern about suspected arms smuggling through Sudan, whose government has close ties with Gaza's Hamas rulers.
In January 2009, foreign aircraft bombed a convoy of trucks in eastern Sudan, with US and Israeli press reports saying they were carrying weapons destined for Gaza during Israel's deadly 22-day assault on the territory.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment on Tuesday's air strike.