Sudan

Sudan says it has cut off diplomatic relations with Chad, blaming it for helping rebels from Darfur to launch an attack on Sudan's capital, Khartoum.

Both Chad and Jem rebels deny working together to launch the assault on the Khartoum suburb of Omdurman, which the rebels say they have taken control of.

The government said the rebel advance, the closest they have come to Khartoum, had been defeated.

An overnight curfew imposed on Khartoum has been lifted, but not in Omdurman.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir made the announcement that his country was breaking off diplomatic ties with Chad on state television.

"These forces [behind the Omdurman attack] are all basically Chadian forces supported and prepared by Chad and they moved from Chad under the leadership of [rebel chief] Khalil Ibrahim," President Bashir said in his televised statement.

He added his country reserved the right to retaliate against Chad.

Sudan has offered a reward of $125,000 (Ð'Ј64,000) for Mr Ibrahim's capture and information that leads to his arrest, Sudan TV reported.

But the Chairman of the Justice and Equality Movement (Jem) Legislative Council, Dr Eltahir Adam Elfaki, said the group acted alone.

"Jem is self-dependent. It is a force that built itself from the equipment of the Sudan government following our activities against the Sudan government," he told the BBC from Libya.

"We have defeated them in so many operations. And we are more than sufficient with equipment than to get if from Chad. Chad has nothing to do with this. It's only a Jem operation."

Chad's government said it regretted Sudan's "hasty decision" to break off diplomatic relations.

It also denied any involvement in the attack on Khartoum.

Chadian Information Minister Muhammad Hussein told the BBC his government had "nothing to do" with it and urged all opposition groups in Sudan "to join the Abuja agreement for peace".

The Sudanese authorities say they have defeated Jem, but are still looking for rebel fighters who escaped.

They say they do not want civilians to be caught in the crossfire as they continue to round up the insurgents.

Proxy war

On Saturday, Jem rebels claimed to have taken the Wadi Saidna air force base about 10 miles (16 km) north of Khartoum, the suburb of Omdurman across the River Nile from Khartoum, and to have entered the capital.

JEM REBELS

Founded