An air strike which killed two people near Port Sudan has been blamed on Israel.

The car was hit on Tuesday at a location about 15km south of the city, the capital of Red Sea State.

"This is absolutely an Israeli attack," said Ali Karti, Sudan's foreign minister. "We are absolutely sure of this."

Karti said Israel destroyed the vehicle in order to scupper Sudan's chances of being removed from a US list of state sponsors of terrorism.    

"There have been allegations from Israel that Sudan is supporting some Islamic groups. This is not true. When Israel makes these allegations, it is trying to justify what it did yesterday," he said.

The identities of those killed have not yet been released, but Karti said one of the two people in the car was a Sudanese citizen who had no ties to the government.

The plane flew in from the direction of the Red Sea, destroyed the vehicle at about 10:00pm (19:00 GMT), and returned in the direction from which it came, Mohammed Tahir, the speaker of the Red Sea state parliament, told the AFP news agency on Tuesday.