Four students shot dead at Sudan protest

At least four school children and one adult were shot dead as security services broke up a protest in the Sudanese city of El-Obeid yesterday, campaigners said.

A group of doctors linked to the opposition said the five were hit during a demonstration by high school pupils in the main city in Sudan’s North Kordofan state.

Many other people were injured, added the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors – one of a group of unions and professional bodies that helped lead months of protests against Sudan’s long-term leader Omar al-Bashir.

There was no immediate statement from the state security services, or from Sudan’s military leaders who ousted Bashir in a coup in April as the protests mounted.

But Sudan’s main protest group yesterday demanded the ruling military council immediately agree to a final transition deal after at least five people, including four school children, were killed in the city of El-Obeid.

In a statement, the Sudanese Professionals’ Association, which spearheaded protests that led to the removal of long-time president Omar al-Bashir in April, also called for nationwide protests in response to the killings in El-Obeid, some 400 km (250 miles) southwest of the capital Khartoum.

Videos circulating on social media purported to show pupils protesting outside El-Obeid’s main hospital against the killings and injuries.

Hundreds of teenagers in uniform chanted “blood for blood, we will not accept blood money” in the footage. Reuters could not immediately verify the authenticity of the videos, or when they were taken.

The doctors group did not give details on what first tarted the protest in El-Obeid, around 400 km (250 miles) southwest of the capital Khartoum.