Egypt, Sudan Clash at Border as Tensions Rise : Mideast: Mubarak meets Sudanese exiles after assassination bid that he blames on extremists.

Tensions between Egypt and Sudan intensified Wednesday as Egyptian officials reported a border clash between the two countries that left guards on both sides wounded.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Wednesday also met a delegation of Sudanese exiles who advocate overthrowing the Islamist regime that governs Sudan, although Mubarak said Egyptian troops would not participate in such an effort.

Mubarak has repeatedly suggested Sudanese complicity in an unsuccessful assassination attempt made against him Monday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Sudan has denied any role in the incident.

Egyptian defense officials and the government’s Middle East News Agency on Wednesday reported that Egyptian border guards exchanged gunfire with Sudanese police on Tuesday night in a long-disputed border sector.

The Defense Ministry said there were unspecified numbers of wounded on both sides. Reuters news agency, quoting unidentified security sources, said six people were wounded--three on each side.

The gunfire reportedly broke out after border guards from the two countries argued over Mubarak’s remarks implicating Sudan in the attack on him.

The clash took place in the Halaib triangle, along the Red Sea, a desert area claimed by both countries and controlled by Egypt.

Egypt also contends that its southern neighbor shelters and trains Muslim radicals who are waging a violent campaign against the Mubarak government in central Egypt.

Egyptian suggestions that Sudan may be involved in Monday’s assassination attempt, in which up to nine gunmen ambushed Mubarak’s motorcade, seems based on assertions that a Sudanese rented the house used as a hide-out by the would-be assassins.

Mubarak and Egypt’s government-controlled news media have repeatedly made that connection, but authorities in Ethiopia who are investigating the crime have not confirmed it.

Ethiopian officials have said only that the assailants, some of whom are believed to be in custody while others are still at large, are “of Arab origin,” which would not rule out Sudanese.

Mubarak met with more than a dozen Sudanese exiles who marched to the presidential palace Wednesday.

Some of them said it is time to take up arms against the Sudan government.

Mubarak seemed to agree, but he added that Egypt would not be directly involved.