Second death, rapes reported at Sudan's mass protest Sunday

KHARTOUM — The death toll from a crackdown on Sudanese protesters Sunday rose to two, medics said Tuesday, while a government ministry said two women were raped in the chaos.

On Monday medics had reported a first shooting death in the previous day's street violence, while the health ministry reported 125 protesters injured, many by tear gas inhalation.

On Tuesday, the independent Sudan Doctors' Committee reported the additional death. It said Abdelmoneim Mohamed Ali, 28, was killed with "a bullet in the head" in Omdurman, Khartoum's twin city.

Security forces cracked down Sunday as hundreds of thousands marched, marking three years since the start of mass demonstrations that led to the ouster of veteran strongman Omar Al Bashir.

The protesters rallied against the northeast African country's military chief General Abdel Fattah Al Burhan, who led a coup on October 25.

Nationwide, at least 47 people have been killed in street clashes in the past two months, according to the Committee.

Two women demonstrators were raped in Sunday's protest, said Suleima Ishaq, head of the Combating Violence Against Women unit at the Ministry of Social Development, without saying who were the suspected perpetrators.

"One woman filed a report with the authorities while the other woman refused taking legal steps," Ishaq told AFP.

The army on Monday insisted in a statement it supports "free and fair elections" in 2023.

However, the Forces for Freedom and Change, the umbrella group which spearheaded the protests against Bashir, has called for more demonstrations on December 25 and 30.