At least seven killed and 140 injured in Sudan as troops open fire following coup

At least seven people have been killed and 140 injured after Sudan’s military seized power, a health ministry official has said.

General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan dissolved the military-civilian Sovereign Council on Monday and announced a state of emergency.

He has promised to hold elections in July 2023 and then hand over power to an elected civilian government.

“What the country is going through now is a real threat and danger to the dreams of the youth and the hopes of the nation,” he said of the Sovereign Council, which had been established following the overthrow of autocrat Omar al-Bashir in a popular uprising two years ago.

Sudan’s foreign minister, Mariam al-Sadiq al-Mahdi, told Sky News’ Africa correspondent John Sparks she felt betrayed by what General Burhan had done.

“Absolutely, absolutely, this is total betrayal, we have met with him last Tuesday and he committed himself that there would be no coup and he committed himself to fully referring to the constitution document.”

Asked if he had broken his word, she said: “Absolutely he did break his word that he given to us last Tuesday and he has unilaterally revoked his commitment to the papers that describe the whole provisional period.”

Thousands of people took to the streets of the capital, Khartoum, and its twin city of Omdurman in protest at the coup.

They set up barricades on the streets and set fire to tyres as security forces opened fire, killing at least seven.

The main opposition coalition, Forces of Freedom and Change, called for peaceful action in the streets to overthrow the military takeover.

The information ministry, which is still loyal to the dissolved government, called Mr Burhan’s speech an “announcement of a seizure of power by military coup”.

The governments of the UK, US and Norway condemned the coup, saying they were deeply concerned about the situation.

They called on security forces to release those who were detained, according to a joint statement released by the US State Department.

It comes weeks after heightened tensions between Sudan’s civilian and military leaders following a failed coup attempt in September.