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Sudan suspends schools after student killings | |
(32 minutes later) | |
Sudan's authorities have ordered all schools nationwide to suspend classes indefinitely amid mass student demonstrations over the shooting dead of five people at a rally. | |
A military council directive says their doors should remain closed from Wednesday, the state news agency said. | |
Protesters gathered in cities including the capital Khartoum following the killing of the protesters on Monday. | |
Four of those who died in North Kordofan state were school students. | |
Dozens more were injured after snipers opened fire on a protest in al-Obeid over fuel and bread shortages. | |
Demonstrators accused paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of carrying out the shootings. | |
Late on Tuesday, the authorities ordered the school closures. | |
"Orders have been given to governors of all states to shut kindergartens, primary and high schools from tomorrow (Wednesday) until further notice," the official Suna news agency reported. | |
The killings in al-Obeid came a day before protest leaders were due to hold talks with Sudan's ruling generals on further areas of installing civilian rule, after the two sides signed a power-sharing deal earlier this month. | |
Protest leaders called off Tuesday's meeting after the shootings. | |
The chairman of Sudan's military council, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, has condemned the killings. | |
"What happened in al-Obeid is sad. Killing peaceful civilians is an unacceptable crime that needs immediate accountability," he was quoted by state television as saying. | |
AFP news agency reports that crowds of students rallied in Khartoum, waving flags and chanting: "The people want to fight for the rights of martyrs." | |
The United Nations children's agency, Unicef, has called on the authorities to investigate the killings and bring the perpetrators to justice. | |
"No child should be buried in their school uniform," it said in a statement that added that the students who died in al-Obeid were aged between 15 and 17. |