Central Darfur witnesses a violent weekend

Central Darfur witnessed a violent weekend with deadly robberies and the forced release of a murder suspect. In Zalingei, a university student was shot dead during a robbery attempt and gunmen forced police to release a murder suspect in Mukjar, which also witnessed a violent robbery.

University student Abdelbaset Osman (18) was shot dead in Hamidiya camp for the displaced in Zalingei, the capital of Central Darfur, on Sunday evening.

People from the camp told Radio Dabanga that four armed men intercepted Osman north of Hamidiya camp at 23:00 on Sunday with the aim of robbing him.

The victim was a first-year student at the Faculty of Economics at the University of Zalingei, they said.

The camp leader filed a complaint at the unified police and at the joint security forces in Zalingei.

A large number of gunmen surrounded the town of Mukjar in Wadi Saleh in Central Darfur from Sunday afternoon until Monday morning for 15 hours, demanding the police to release a suspect in a murder case.

Residents of Mukjar told Radio Dabanga that the gunmen forced the police to release the accused on bail, in clear violation of the law.

They explained that the accused was arrested on Saturday following an armed robbery and that he had complaints filed against him two months ago in regarding the killing of a girl and the wounding of her mother.

Another suspect in the robbery died of a heart attack while being chased by the police on Saturday.

A vehicle on its way from Mukjar to Garsila was forced to stop by a group of robbers using firearms on Saturady. Passengers Arab El Nadif and Abaker Younis sustained gunshot wounds in the head and were taken to Garsila for treatment.

It is unclear whether this is the robbery in which the suspect was arrested.

Yesterday, Radio Dabanga already reported that two people were killed in two separate events in Mukjar locality. Residents from the area told Radio Dabanga that one of the victims was killed in connection with incidents related to the theft of livestock, while the second was stabbed to death in a quarrel by a young man.

Residents explained that the families of the victim in the first incident refused to receive the body until Sunday morning, demanding blood money, and indicated that they received the body after the reconciliation committee in Mukjar locality agreed to meet with them to determine the value of the blood money.