On Tuesday, 23 October 2012 at midnight local time (21:00 GMT) there was an explosion at the Yarmouk munitions factory, south of

Khartoum Khartoum or Khartum ( ; ar, الخرطوم, Al-Khurṭūm, din, Kaartuɔ̈m) is the capital of Sudan. With a population of 5,274,321, its metropolitan area is the largest in Sudan. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile, flowing n ...

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

. The factory had been built in 1996. According to Khartoum state governor Abdel Rahman Al-Khidir, the explosion probably happened at the main storage facility. The resulting fire resulted in the death of two people and one person being injured. According to Sudanese opposition, the arms factory belonged to

Iran's Revolutionary Guard The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC; fa, سپاه پاسداران انقلاب اسلامی, Sepāh-e Pāsdārān-e Enghelāb-e Eslāmi, lit=Army of Guardians of the Islamic Revolution also Sepāh or Pasdaran for short) is a branch o ...

. Ahmed Bilal Osman, Sudanese culture and information minister, blamed this on an airstrike by four Israeli aircraft. He claimed that Sudan found unexploded Israeli rockets. Analysts say that Sudan is used as an arms-smuggling route to the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip (;The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory under the control of the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza.. ...

, which is governed by the Islamist militant organization

Hamas Hamas (, ; , ; an acronym of , "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Bri ...

. According to

Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

, this operation "was seen as a dry run for a forthcoming attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities." Analysis by military experts at the

Satellite Sentinel Project The Satellite Sentinel Project (SSP) was conceived by George Clooney and Enough Project co-founder John Prendergast during their October 2010 visit to South Sudan. Through the use of satellite imagery, SSP provides an early warning system t ...

suggested that the target may have been a batch of around 40 shipping containers, containing highly volatile cargo.

Reaction

* Osman further said that Sudan has a "right to react" and to strike Israel. Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman, Sudanese ambassador to the UN, brought the case to the UN Security Council. He also claimed that Israel had violated Sudanese air space three times in recent years. Three hundred people chanted outside of a government building "Death to Israel" and "Remove Israel from the map." * Amos Gilad, an Israeli defence official, said on 24 October that "Sudan is a dangerous terrorist state" but refused to confirm an Israeli involvement. * sent two Iranian warships to Sudan, where the fleet commanders met with Sudanese navy commanders.

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{{Iran–Israel proxy conflict 2012 in Sudan Airstrikes by target Aerial operations and battles involving Israel October 2012 events in Africa 21st century in Khartoum Iran–Israel proxy conflict Israel–Sudan military relations

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