Sudan has severed diplomatic ties with Chad, accusing it of backing a first Darfur rebel attack on Khartoum.
The government said it had repulsed the assault by the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), allegedly backed by Chad, which saw the insurgents reach Khartoum's outskirts with the declared intent of toppling the regime.
‘We are forced to sever diplomatic relations with this regime in Chad,’ President Omar al-Beshir said on state television following the attack on the capital's twin city of Omdurman just across the river Nile.
‘We place the entire responsibility for this attack on Chad,’ he said.
Chad said it regretted Khartoum's decision, denied any involvement in the attack and condemned a raid on the Chadian embassy.
The Darfuri attack in broad daylight marks the first time regional rebels have violence so close to the seat of Sudanese power.
Sudanese television reported that some €315 million would be paid to anyone who arrests JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim or provides information on his whereabouts.
Mr Beshir convened an emergency session of the national security council as government forces hunted down remaining rebel forces.
Omdurman remained under curfew but restrictions were lifted elsewhere.
JEM's deputy chief of staff said that his forces had taken Omdurman but were having trouble with the urban fighting environment having come from the desert of Darfur, and had suffered deaths and injuries.
There was no clear indication from either side on casualty numbers.
