It was the first government comment on the incident in more than a week and followed reports by opposition groups that as many as 129 conscripts were killed in the incident April 2. The government had earlier said that 31 people died. But the opposition National Democratic Alliance said Sudanese soldiers shot and beat to death 74 student conscripts and that at least 55 others drowned as they tried to flee. The incident has prompted demands in Sudanese newspapers for government ministers to resign. Many of the men were forcibly picked up from the street to fight an insurgency in southern Sudan.
Military service is mandatory for Sudanese men.
The government insisted that all the deaths came from drowning. The Alliance told The Associated Press that 261 recruits tried to escape the camp. The Alliance unites northern opposition parties from the Arab, Muslim north with the southern rebels, mostly Christians and animists, who have been fighting a 15-year insurgency for greater autonomy from the Muslim north. The town is near the border with Chad. Two senior tribal officials and a local official belonging to the ruling National Congress party were killed, the newspaper said.