UPDATE 3 - Sudan protests spread to Khartoum; 5 killed in Gadarif

UPDATES DEATH TOLL, ADDS DECLARATION OF STATE OF EMERGENCY IN SOME CITIES

KHARTOUM (AA) - Demonstrations in Sudan spread to capital Khartoum on Thursday while at least five protesters were killed in the eastern city of Gadarif.

State of emergency was declared in Dangola and Gadarif cities, after it was already declared in Atbara.

Demonstrators decry rampant inflation and months of deteriorating economic conditions.

Eyewitnesses reported violent demonstrations in the center of Khartoum and in the city’s Demi, Haj Yusuf and Arkweet neighborhoods.

Police used teargas and fired bullets into the air to disperse the crowds, while shops in the capital’s central market were closed, according to witnesses.

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered along the capital’s main streets, while police -- firing teargas and live ammunition -- tried to prevent them from reaching Khartoum’s presidential palace.

Demonstrators could be heard chanting slogans decrying the rising cost of living and demanding better living conditions.

Meanwhile, in the eastern city of Gadarif, at least five demonstrators were reportedly killed by security forces while dozens of others were injured.

In exclusive remarks to Anadolu Agency, Mubarak al-Nur, an MP for Gadarif, confirmed that the ongoing protests in the city had seen at least two demonstrators killed by security forces.

"Relatives of the dead have been unable to access the mortuary to recover the bodies," al-Nur said.

Dozens of others had sustained serious injuries, he added, prompting expectations that the death toll will rise further.

According to local media, the death toll in Gadarif rose to five.

Demonstrations were also reported in the northern city of Atbara -- for the second day in a row -- despite the imposition there of an official state of emergency.

And in the town of Zaidab (located roughly 250 kilometers north of Khartoum), protesters torched a government building, local witnesses said.