Darfur rebel leader Khalil Ibrahim said on today he would launch more attacks on Sudan's capital Khartoum until the government fell.
"This is just the start of a process and the end is the termination of this regime," said Mr Ibrahim, whose Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) attacked Khartoum at the weekend. "Don't expect just one more attack. This is just the beginning."
The weekend attack was the first time fighting had reached the capital in decades of conflict between the traditionally Arab-dominated central government and rebels from far-flung regions in the oil-producing country.
President Omar Hassan al-Bashir's government arrested Islamist opposition leader Hassan al-Turabi and four top members of his party today, aides said. JEM leaders were supporters of Mr Turabi in the past but he denies backing the rebels.
Mr Turabi's son said security forces arrested his father at his home about an hour after returning from a conference of his Popular Congress Party in nearby Sennar state.
"They want to blame the party for what has happened," said Siddig al-Turabi. About 65 people were believed to have been killed in the attack.
Mr Turabi was Mr Bashir's ideologue until they split in a bitter power struggle in 1999-2000. Since then he has been in and out of jail but was released along with all other political prisoners after a 2005 north-south peace deal.
Yesterday, Sudan cut diplomatic relations with neighbouring Chad, saying the attack by the rebels from the western Darfur region had been supported by Chadian President Idriss Deby.
The rebels made a lightning advance across 600 km of desert and scrub to attack Khartoum's western Omdurman suburb on Saturday in what one of their leaders called a bid for power. Officials said the last rebels fled last night.
In a television broadcast, Mr Bashir accused Mr Ibrahim, who is from the same tribe as Mr Deby, of being behind the attack.
Chad has denied involvement, but analysts say it may have backed the JEM rebels to retaliate for an attack on the Chadian capital three months ago.
