Darfur rebel leader vows attrition war for Sudan

Reeves said Chad has in recent months bolstered the group's military arsenal. Chadian President Idris Deby, a tribal relative of Ibrahim, has accused Sudan of supporting a Chadian rebel attack on his country's capital in February.

Al-Turabi, head of Sudan's powerful opposition National Popular Congress, also has been suspected of having ties to Ibrahim, and Sudanese security officers took him in for questioning Monday about Saturday's attack.

"They asked me about my relation" with the Justice and Equality Movement, al-Turabi told al-Jazeera satellite television after his release late Monday. "I told them I don't see any link between me and such investigation so I will not answer them."

Al-Turabi, who has a doctorate from the Sorbonne, is one of the founders of the Islamic political movement in Sudan and he used to head the Muslim Brotherhood.

He and Ibrahim were once Cabinet ministers in Sudan's regime and both seek Islam-based government. Ibrahim, however, broke with al-Turabi and al-Bashir's government over the issue of ethnic rights for the people of Darfur and still have their differences.

Observers said al-Turabi has been talking with the regime about re-engaging in politics and competing in the country's elections.

Ibrahim denied having any ties to al-Turabi. "My people in Khartoum ... are not related to Turabi," he said in the phone interview.

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Associated Press writers Sarah el Deeb reported this story from Cairo, Egypt, and Mohamed Osman from Khartoum, Sudan.