Car bomb in Port Sudan just a coincidence?

A car went 'boom' in Port Sudan around 8:00 Tuesday morning local time (5:00 am GMT). The body of the 65-year old driver, from a tribe that is known for smuggling goods into Egypt, was burned completely. You may recall similar incidents in 2009, 2010 and 2011 (here too) in which it was alleged that Israel was behind the explosions. The media is implying that Israel is once again to blame (Hat Tip: Challah Hu Akhbar), but Israel will likely decline comment.

One person was killed when a car exploded on Sudan’s Red Sea coast on Tuesday, official media reported, about a year after Sudan blamed Israel for an air strike in the same region.

There was no immediate word on the cause of the blast, which witnesses said left two craters in the road.

“A car exploded inside Port Sudan and the body of the driver was burned completely. Police are investigating,” Radio Omdurman reported.

Witnesses told AFP the blast occurred just before 8:00 am (0500 GMT) on the western edge of Port Sudan town.

“I heard a big explosion and I came out and saw a Prado car on fire, and two craters in the ground,” said one resident.

A second resident gave a similar account.

In April last year, Sudan said it had irrefutable evidence that Israeli attack helicopters carried out a missile and machine gun strike on a car about 15 kilometers (nine miles) south of Port Sudan.

Two Sudanese in the car were killed, Sudan's foreign ministry said at the time, denying the country was harboring militant groups.

Israel refused to comment on that incident, which made the front pages of all major newspapers in the Jewish state.

Israeli officials had previously expressed concern about arms smuggling through Sudan, which has close ties with the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.

Last year’s attack mirrored a similar strike by foreign aircraft on a truck convoy reportedly laden with weapons in eastern Sudan in January 2009.

Hmmm.