Stray bullet kills woman in home amid Khartoum clashes

KHARTOUM

A woman was killed by a “stray bullet” in her Khartoum home on Tuesday amid reports of ongoing clashes between armed militias and protesters, according to Sudan’s pro-opposition Central Doctors Committee.

In a statement, the NGO said that a woman -- it did not give her name -- had been killed “after being shot in the head by a stray bullet in her home in Khartoum’s Al-Deem district”.

“There have been reports of clashes between armed militias and unarmed civilians… in Khartoum’s Bahri district, resulting in casualties,” the doctors’ committee said without providing a death toll.

Sudan’s ruling Military Transitional Council (MTC) was not immediately available for comment on the NGO’s statement.

Late Monday night, at least 35 demonstrators were killed -- and hundreds more injured -- when security forces tried to disperse an ongoing sit-on outside army headquarters in Khartoum.

Sudan has remained in relative turmoil since April 11, when the country’s military establishment announced the “removal” of President Omar al-Bashir after months of popular protests against his 30-year rule.

The MTC is now overseeing a two-year “transitional period” during which it has pledged to hold free presidential elections.

Demonstrators, however, have remained on the streets to demand that the MTC relinquish power -- at the earliest possible date -- to a civilian authority.