UPDATE - Sudan: 13 protesters killed in clashes with police

ADDS BACKGROUND

By Omer Erdem

KHARTOUM (AA) – At least 13 people were killed Thursday in Sudan when security forces intervened in protests, according to the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors.

They included two demonstrators in the capital Khartoum, it said in a statement early Friday.

The committee said one person died outside army headquarters in the capital, where hundreds of protesters staged a sit-in for the sixth day in a row.

Since Saturday, at least 35 people have been killed in clashes with security forces, which have repeatedly tried to disperse the sit-in by force, it added.

Earlier Thursday, the Sudanese military announced the removal of President Omar al-Bashir, who had ruled the country since 1989, and the imposition of a two-year "transitional phase".

In a televised statement, Defense Minister Awad ibn Auf announced the imposition of a one-month curfew along with a three-month nationwide state of emergency.

He also announced the suspension of Sudan’s 2005 Constitution and the dissolution of the Sudanese presidency, parliament and council of ministers.

He said a military council would be established to run the country’s affairs during the post-Bashir interim phase.

Sudanese opposition parties and professional associations voiced their total rejection of what they called a "military coup".

Al-Bashir came to power on the back of a 1989 military coup against the democratically elected government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi.

*Writing by Jeyhun Aliyev