Military kills 3, injures 80 during anti-coup protests in Sudan

KHARTOUM, Sudan

At least three protesters were killed and 80 others injured on Monday by military gunfire in front of the Sudanese army headquarters in the capital Khartoum, a doctors committee said.

Protests took place in response to the military’s arrest of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and members of the civilian government in Khartoum earlier on Monday.

According to the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors, security forces fired live bullets at the demonstrators.

The Ministry of Culture and Information said the military arrested Hamdok after he refused to support what it described as a "coup".

Also Monday, Gen. Abdel-Fattah al-Burhan, the head of Sudan's ruling military council, declared a state of emergency and dissolved the Sovereign Council, which was created to run the country after the ouster of long-serving President Omar al-Bashir in 2019.

After a failed military coup last month, deep tensions between the military and the civilian administration erupted in Sudan amid recent rival protests in Khartoum.

Before the dissolution, Sudan was administered by the Sovereign Council of military and civilian authorities, which oversaw the transition period until elections slated for 2023, as part of a precarious power-sharing pact between the military and the Forces for Freedom and Change coalition.