Sudan arrests 20 extremists, seizes explosives

KHARTOUM  (AFP) - Sudanese police have arrested 20 young Islamist extremists over the past days and seized weapons and explosives, the justice minister said Wednesday.

"It is still premature to speak of any ties with Al-Qaeda," said the minister, Mohammed Ali Mardhi, but added it could not be excluded either.

The men, in their 20s, were arrested between Sunday and Tuesday in various locations in the capital Khartoum and its sister city Omdurman.

One policeman was wounded in an exchange of fire with the extremists.

Stores of guns and explosives including nitroglycerin were found in the homes they had rented, he said.