In a major operation, Sudanese security forces have used live ammunition to disperse a sit-in protest camp military headquarters in the capital, Khartoum, on Monday, reported BBC.
As per the report, medical sources claim at least eight people have been killed and several others injured.
The Transitional Military Council (TMC), which has been governing Sudan since President Omar al-Bashir was overthrown in a coup in April, has denied using force to break up the main protest site.
“Sudanese forces did not disperse the sit-in outside the army headquarters by force, but rather targeted a nearby area which has become a threat to the safety of citizens,” Lt Gen Shams al-Din Kabbashi, the spokesperson for TMC, told UAE-based Sky News Arabia TV channel.
The BBC report claims the military forces moved on the main protest site early on Monday. Khartoum residents reported sounds of heavy gunfire and smoke coming from the area around the army headquarters. An insider source with information from the main hospitals in Khartoum told the publication that they had received at least eight bodies and many others injured.
“They hit us and then they started shooting live ammunition, after putting the entire sit-in under siege,” said Deema Alasad, a 25-year-old dentist from Khartoum who took part in the sit-in.
She added that the protesters were unarmed civilians.
“Now an attempt is taking place to disperse the sit-in,” said the Sudanese Professionals Association, the group which is leading the nationwide protests, said in a statement.
The protest alliance also called for a campaign of “sweeping civil disobedience to topple the treacherous and killer military council and finalize our revolution”.
Meanwhile, the US embassy in Sudan has criticized attacks by Sudanese security forces against protesters, saying the attacks are wrong and must stop.
Irfan Siddiq, the British Ambassador in Khartoum, has also called for an end to the violence.
The demonstrators have continued their sit-in protests in front of the military headquarters since 6 April, five days before Mr. Bashir was ousted.
