KHARTOUM, Aug 19 -A Sudanese cabinet minister was among 31 killed on Sunday when an airplane went down in war-torn South Kordofan state, official media said.
“The presidency of the republic eulogises the Minister of Guidance (Ghazi Al- Saddiq) and others martyred in a plane crash this morning in Talodi,” the official SUNA news agency said in a brief dispatch.
Saddiq took on the Guidance and Endowments portfolio, among whose duties is religious issues, during a July cabinet reshuffle which trimmed the number of ministries.
Prior to the reshuffle he had been minister of tourism and antiquities since December.
At least 30 other people aboard the airplane were killed, an aviation official said.
“All people on board were killed,” Abdelhafiz Abdelrahim, spokesman for the Sudan Aviation Authority, told AFP.
The delegation was headed for a function marking the Muslim Eid holiday
The aviation official said the plane was landing in Talodi town at about 8:00 am (0500 GMT) when “an explosion was heard and the plane was destroyed.”
Abdelrahim could not immediately provide further details.
Talodi has been a key battleground in the war which began in June last year between the government and ethnic rebels of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N).
There was no immediate word on what caused the explosion aboard the plane.
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