Sudan says rebel attack on Khartoum defeated

By Opheera McDoom

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Darfur rebels fought Sudanese troops in a suburb of Khartoum on Saturday in a bid to seize power, but the government said the attack on the capital had been defeated.

It was the first time fighting had reached the city in decades of conflict between the traditionally Arab-dominated central government of Africa's biggest country and rebels from peripheral regions that complain of neglect.

Heavy gunfire and artillery shook Omdurman, across the River Nile from the heart of Khartoum. Helicopters and armored vehicles headed for the fighting and an overnight curfew was declared.

"The main aim of this failed terrorist sabotage attack was to provoke media coverage and let people imagine that they had the ability to enter Khartoum," Mandour al-Mahdi, political secretary of the ruling National Congress Party told state television.

"Thank God this attempt has been completely defeated. Some high level JEM commanders were killed," he said, referring to the Darfur Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) rebels.

LIGHTNING ADVANCE

Sudan accused neighboring Chad of backing the rebels, who made a lightning advance across some 600 km (400 miles) of desert and scrub between Darfur and Khartoum. A top official said the attack destroyed any chance of peace talks.

Chad's government denied any involvement in the attack which it condemned as an "adventure".

Sudanese state television showed pictures of corpses, blood and burned vehicles in the streets. It displayed what it said were rebel prisoners, including two who confessed to the camera. One looked badly beaten.

Witnesses said gunfire continued in Omdurman's western outskirts.

The rebels dismissed the government version of events and said fighting was still going on in their attempt to oust President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

"We are in Omdurman, we are in Khartoum north. This is not something that is going to be finished in a few hours," JEM official al-Tahir al-Faki told Reuters from Britain. "There is an imbalance of power and wealth, we have to sort this out."

U.S.-based Sudan expert Alex De Waal called the move "very serious indeed" said it may not be all over yet.

"There's whole bunch of other JEM forces out there and JEM are saying there are other reinforcements arriving," he said. "It's not over yet."

Khartoum state is home to around 8 million of the 38 million people in a country bigger than Western Europe.