9 dead as Sudan military rulers try to break up sit-in
Khartoum: Sudan's military rulers moved Monday to break up a weeks-long sit-in outside Khartoum's army headquarters, leaving at least nine protesters dead, a doctors' committee said as gunfire was heard echoing from the site.
Heavily armed security forces in pick-up trucks mounted with machine guns were deployed in large numbers all around the capital, while gunfire was heard from the protest site by an AFP journalist.
The United States and Britain called for an end to the crackdown on demonstrators, who want the generals behind the overthrow of veteran president Omar al-Bashir to hand over to civilian rule.
The death toll "from the massacre today has risen to nine martyrs," the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors, which is close to the protesters, wrote on Facebook.
It also reported a "large number of critical casualties" and called for "urgent support" from the International Committee of the Red Cross and other humanitarian organisations to help the wounded.
The military council has denied multiple reports of their forces violently dispersing the sit-in in front of army headquarters.
"Now an attempt is taking place to disperse the sit-in at the headquarters of the people's armed forces by force by the military council," said the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), the group which spearheaded nationwide protests that started in December.
The SPA said it amounted to a "bloody massacre" and called on Sudanese to take part in "total civil disobedience" to topple the military council.
The doctors' committee said forces were also opening fire inside the city's East Nile Hospital and "chasing peaceful protesters". It said another hospital near the site of the sit-in was surrounded and volunteers were prevented from reaching it.
Rallies against Bashir's authoritarian, three-decade rule led to his ouster in April, but protesters have remained outside the army headquarters calling on the generals to cede power to a transitional authority.
Near the demonstration site, a witness living in the Burri neighbourhood said he could "hear the sound of gunfire and I see a plume of smoke rising from the area of the sit-in."
Another resident of the area, in east Khartoum, said he had seen forces in "police uniform" trying to expel the demonstrators. The military council "did not disperse the sit-in by force," their spokesman said.
"The tents are there, and the youth are moving freely," Shamseddine Kabbashi told Sky News Arabia. Britain's ambassador to Khartoum, Irfan Siddiq, said he had heard "heavy gunfire" from his residence.
"Extremely concerned by... reports that Sudanese security forces are attacking the protest sit-in site resulting in casualties. No excuse for any such attack. This. Must. Stop. Now," he wrote on Twitter.
The US embassy in Khartoum said "security forces' attacks against protesters and other civilians is wrong and must stop."
"Responsibility falls on the TMC. The TMC cannot responsibly lead the people of Sudan," it added referring to the transitional military council.
The Alliance for Freedom and Change, the umbrella group of the protest movement, urged "peaceful marches and rallies" nationwide and for barricades to be put up including in the capital.
Protesters had already set about building a brick barricade and had set tyres and tree trunks alight on Street 60 -- one of the main streets in the capital.
The SPA had said on Saturday that it had reason to believe the military council was "planning and working to end the peaceful sit-in at the headquarters with excessive force and violence" after three people were killed in incidents on the fringes of the demonstration last week.
Negotiations between protest leaders and the ruling military council have broken down, as the two sides have failed to agree on whether a planned transitional body would be headed by a civilian or a military figure.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Two Delhi men held for BMTC bus phone thefts in Bengaluru
Bengaluru: Whitefield police have arrested two men from Delhi for allegedly stealing mobile phones from passengers travelling in Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) buses and solved 14 theft cases, officials said on Tuesday.
The arrested accused have been identified as Jai Chand (25), who worked at a hotel in Delhi, and Tarun (34), an autorickshaw driver in Delhi.
Officials said on January 24, a Mahadevapura resident lodged a complaint that his iPhone 15 Plus was stolen while he was travelling on a BMTC bus towards Whitefield.
Based on the complaint, police registered a case and arrested two suspects within an hour near a lodge on Hosa Road. During the arrest, the police found a bag containing several stolen mobile phones.
ALSO READ: Two college dropouts held with drugs worth Rs 10 crore in Bengaluru
“During interrogation, the suspects confessed that they were stealing mobile phones from passengers travelling in BMTC buses. They had also committed thefts during a concert held under the Channarayapatna police station limits on January 23,” the police said.
Investigations revealed that the accused had travelled from Delhi for the concert and stolen mobile phones from the audience. A third suspect is at large and is likely hiding in the Shahdara area of Delhi.
One of the victims, a YouTuber, raised the theft issue in February in a post on X.
“Here is my (FIR No 0013/2026 is registered in Channarayapatana PS. Your GSC No. is PO1814260100013) request @DelhiPolice @BlrCityPolice to plz look into this & get my device back since it's my work phone & I am a youtuber, all my data is there! someone plz help. @dcpwhitefield,” Anirban Sarkar posted on X on February 6.
Police have recovered 14 mobile phones of various brands, collectively valued at about Rs 9 lakh, from the accused. The two were produced before the court and remanded in judicial custody.
In total, one case from Whitefield and 13 from Channarayapatna police stations were detected. Further investigation is underway.
