Nairobi — Sudan has denied sponsoring Eritrean opposition groups to carry out operations inside Eritrea.

A press release, issued by the Sudanese embassy in Asmara, said claims by Eritrea that Sudan was linked to the death of a British geologist at the weekend were "completely unfounded".

Earlier this week, the Eritrean foreign ministry said the death of Timothy Nutt, who was working for the Canadian mineral exploration company Nevsun Resources, was the work of "a terrorist 'Jihad' group sponsored by the government of the Sudan". The Briton was murdered near Bisha, in western Eritrea, where Nevsun is mining for gold.

"These allegations are completely unfounded, and the government of the Sudan refutes any attempts to link it to incidents involving the Eritrean government and groups opposing it," the Sudanese statement said.

"In fact, the area where the incident is claimed to have taken place is far from the common border, and well inside Eritrea."

"It is unfortunate that, once again, old tactics of blaming internal problems on neighbours are being used," the statement said, adding that this would only raise tension in the region.