At least 3 dead, over 80 wounded in anti-coup protests in Sudan

(Update 2: adds info on casualties)

Khartoum, Oct 25 (EFE).- At least three people died and over 88 were injured when security forces fired on people protesting a military coup in Sudan on Monday, the Central Committee of Sudan Doctors said.

Tens of thousands of demonstrators in Khartoum were shot at after Sudanese general Abdel Fattah al-Burhan had dissolved the country’s transitional government and declared a state of emergency.

Al-Burhan made the announcement in a televised speech, hours after a group of soldiers detained Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok and other government officials.

Earlier, the Sudanese information ministry said Hamdok’s whereabouts were unknown after he was arrested for refusing to support the coup leaders, instead urging people to peacefully “defend the revolution.”

In addition to Hamdok, “civilian members of the transitional sovereign council and a number of ministers from the transitional government have been detained by joint military forces. They have been led to an unidentified location,” the ministry said.

“Military forces fired bullets at the protesters who rejected the military coup in front of the Armed Forces General Command headquarters,” the information ministry said.

The opposition platform Sudanese Professionals Association urged neighborhood resistance committees, the revolutionary forces and masses to put up “fierce resistance” to the “brutal military coup.”

Images broadcast live on television channels showed protesters and burning tires on the streets of Khartoum.

Internet watchdog NetBlocks confirmed “a significant disruption to internet service in Sudan.”