The Sudan Government would like to express its sorrow over this regrettable incident, which took place as a result of an unintended technical fault

Government statement

A statement from the Foreign Ministry in Khartoum said the government expressed its deepest regrets for the bombing.

A government plane dropped six bombs on Sunday on civilians collecting food dropped from a World Food Programme aircraft around the town of Akuem in the southern province of Bahr el-Ghazal.

Government troops are battling rebel forces in the area.

'Technical fault'

"The Sudan Government would like to express its sorrow over this regrettable incident, which took place as a result of an unintended technical fault," the statement said.

Sudan promised US envoy John Danforth it would end such bombings

However, it did not explain what the fault was.

The World Food Programme, whose depot was struck, said a 12-year-old girl and another child died in the attack.

Sudan said it would endeavour to ensure such incidents did not happen again.

The United States has described the attack as horrific and senseless and said that Khartoum had broken a recent pledge to stop bombing civilian targets for four weeks.

Sudan and rebel forces agreed to a ceasefire in January which covers the central Nuba mountains region but not the town where the bombing took place.

Some two million people have died in fighting between the Muslim government in Khartoum and the mainly Christian rebels in the south, who want autonomy.