The Eastern Front said Khartoum was no longer bombing civilian targets as it alleged last week but maintained that the intensity of aircraft surveillance over the Barka Valley in eastern Red Sea state was a prelude to new aerial attacks.

"Khartoum military planes, MiG-29s and Antonovs, have been flying intensively all over eastern Sudan for the last few days and still today, spreading terror and scaring civilians," said Salah Barqueen, a senior front official.

"If the flying doesn't stop, we will find ourselves compelled to respond with special treatment according to their aggression," he told AFP from the Eastern Front office in the Eritrean capital.

"The flying is an indication they will bomb again," Barqueen said. "We ask the international community to tell Khartoum to stop this flying."

The Eastern Front, which launched its first offensive against government positions south of Port Sudan in Red Sea state on June 19, earlier accused the Sudanese air force of bombing civilians in a bid to stop their attacks.

Sudan immediately denied the charges but allowed that there were military operations in the area aimed at pursuing the rebels which included aerial reconnaissance.

The rebels responded by accusing the government of lying in the face of military losses on the ground and massing troops in the region to mount a counter-offensive.

The rebel charges have not been able to be independently confirmed due to the remoteness of the region about halfway between Port Sudan and the Eritrean border but Khartoum has been criticized in the past for bombing civilian targets in dealing with other insurgencies.

Barqueen was unable to provide any details about casualties sustained by civilians in last week's alleged bombing and could not say whether fighting between the rebels and government troops was continuing.

Sudan meanwhile warned neighbouring Eritrea Wednesday that it risked a major flare-up on their border if it pressed ahead with what Khartoum insists is military support for the Eastern Front rebels.

"If Eritrea carries on with this behaviour, the international community should expect escalation," Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of Islamic foreign ministers in Yemen.

"The international community... should expect also the situation in eastern Sudan and the borders (with Eritrea) to explode," he said.

Eritrea denies the Sudanese charges, calling them an attempt to cover up the Arab-dominated Khartoum regime's "atrocities" against an array of minority groups.