Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir announced on Sunday a decision to sever diplomatic ties with Chad, holding Chad responsible for an attack launched by Darfur rebels on the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Saturday.

"Sudan holds Chad responsible for what had happened and reserve the right for responding," the Sudanese president said in an address to the Sudanese nation.

He praised the position of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), the police, various political parties and the Sudanese people, which, he said, had been "standing firmly over the Darfur issue and against the aggression".

On Saturday, a group of militants of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) infiltrated into Omdurman Area in northwestern Khartoum and clashed with the SAF troops and police forces.

The Sudanese government announced that the army and the police had crushed the attempt of the rebels to infiltrate into the capital and carry out sabotage activities there, killing and capturing a number of the infiltrators.

This was the first time for rebels in Darfur to enter Khartoum and launch attacks there since bloody conflicts erupted in the western Sudanese region neighboring Chad in February 2003.

The Sudanese government has repeatedly accused N'djamena of supporting and providing assistance to the rebel movements in Darfur, but the Chadian government has denied the accusation.

(Xinhua News Agency May 12, 2008)