Sudan says no explosives detonated at SPLM office

Khartoum
May 25, 2009 (ST)

The Sudanese police issued a statement today saying they found no traces of an explosion at the offices of Sudan People Liberation Movement (SPLM) in Khartoum.

Earlier today the SPLM said that a radio controlled bomb was placed at the site on Monday morning by two unidentified men but did not explode.

However SPLM officials suggested that the target was Yasir Arman who heads its caucus in the national assembly.

Arman recently came under fire from NCP after he urged dropping the crime of adultery in the draft of the criminal code.

Sudan’s police said they received a complaint from an SPLM official at 10:30 am that an explosion took place at 3:30 am but that its forensics teams found no evidence of that occurring.

The statement contradicts that of SPLM which said that the explosion fell short of happening.

The SPLM spokesman Yen Matthew told Reuters said that two men jumped over a fence and left an object close to one of the building’s entrances then ran off after barking dogs roused the guard.

“The guard saw something flashing on the object and suddenly there was a loud explosion. Fortunately, it seems that only the detonator exploded, and no souls were lost ... This was a definite attempt to kill people and destroy the building” he told reporters.

“We were very, very lucky” he added.

Planting bombs is virtually an unknown phenomenon in Sudan as well as political assassinations which have occurred only few times since independence.

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