Sudan has arrested more than 65 leading members of the outlawed Muslim fundamentalist group believed to be behind the massacre of more than 20 people in a mosque near last week, a newspaper reported Friday.
Akhbar al-Yom newspaper said security officials were interrogating the detainees of the Takfir wal-Hijra group, one of whose members gunned down Muslims of the rival Ansar al-Sunna sect during evening prayers.
Police officials said the gunman, Abbas al-Baqir Abbas, acted alone, but several witnesses said at least three armed men carried out the attack in the village of Jarafa on the outskirts of Omdurman, a suburb of Khartoum.
Abbas was shot dead by police after spraying bullets on the packed congregation.
The Takfir wal-Hijra (Atonement and Self-Denial) has carried out attacks on mosques of Ansar al-Sunna (Supporters of the Traditions of the Prophet Mohammed) two other times since 1996.
The outlawed Takfir wal-Hijra believes the Islamic law that governs Sudan should be implemented by force, while Ansar al-Sunna does not.
President Omar el-Beshir's adviser for legal and political affairs, Abdel Basset Subderat, told reporters recently that the interior minister and other key cabinet ministers had broadened the guidelines for security forces to curb violence.
He did not specify what the measures were and said they were not directed specifically at Takfir wal-Hijra -- KHARTOUM (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
