The air raid by foreign aircraft on a convoy of vehicles in eastern Sudan in January killed 119 people, the country's defence ministry told parliament, the official Suna agency reported Monday.

The convoy had been transporting illegal immigrants to Egypt, General Abdul-Rahim Mohamed Hussein told a parliamentary committee investigating the attack.

Time Magazine has reported that the convoy was carrying rockets and Iranian explosives bound for the Gaza Strip during Israel's offensive against Hamas militants in the Palestinian territory.

Citing two senior Israeli security officials, the magazine said Israeli fighter-bombers had carried out the attack.

Hussein said that of about a thousand people in the convoy, 119 were killed: 56 smugglers and 63 would be immigrants, from Ethiopia, Somalia and other countries.

It is the first time that the defence ministry has announced a death toll for the raids.

The Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot said the Israeli navy had carried out operations in Sudan against the smuggling of arms bound for Islamic militant movement Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.

Israeli has made no official comment on the allegations.

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