More suspects held for Sudan PM attack – US experts to assist investigation

Several more suspects, including foreigners, have reportedly been arrested in Sudan in connection the failed assassination attempt on Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok in Khartoum Bahri (North) on Monday morning. Hamdok emerged unscathed after an explosive device detonated beside his motorcade as it made its way towards Kober Bridge on the way to his office.

A first suspect was arrested yesterday. A team of specialists from the USA has arrived in the capital to assist with the investigation.

In a statement yesterday, Sudan’s Minister of Information and Spokesman for the government, Feisal Mohamed Saleh, confirmed the arrests and the arrival of the US team.

He told reporters that the team from the USA will assist the government with their experience and the modern technologies available to them. He explained that investigating this type of incident is still new in Sudan and that international agreements to fight terrorism oblige countries to share expertise to contribute to addressing these issues.

He said that the Sudanese security services, police, and intelligence are working within a unified team and they have taken a number of new security measures to secure the PM, important figures, and important sites: “There will be new security measures and plans to maintain the safety and security of the country,” Saleh said.

Saleh stressed that these security measures will not restrict public freedoms and rights that Sudanese citizens have according to the Constitutional Document.

Communist Party

The Communist Party of Sudan accused security forces of arresting a group of youths and pressuring them to confess that they belong to a Communist cell aimed at destabilising the situation in the country and contributing to the assassination attempt of the PM.

Fathi Fadul, a spokesman for the party, condemned this at a press conference, calling it “an extension of the criminal thinking of the defunct regime,” and confronting what he described as “sordid plots and fabricated issues”.

The General Secretary of the Communist Party, Mohamed El Khateeb, considered the attempt to assassinate Hamdok as a failure of the Ministries of Interior and Defence to eliminate the pockets of Sudanese and foreign terrorism.

El Khateeb alluded a press conference to “the continued presence of terrorist groups that were hosted by the former regime”.

He said that the aim of the assassination attempt is to destabilise the situation in Sudan, abort the Sudanese revolution, and impede the completion of its goals,

He warned against using the incident to restrict freedoms.

On the agreement to form internal security and its affiliation with the Ministry of Interior, El Khateeb said that the party’s position is based on dissolving the security apparatus and reconfiguring it as an information-gathering device.

He said that the prevailing practices confirm that “the security apparatus continues to operate with the same former doctrine”.

Sheikh Yasir of the resistance committees in Khartoum North said that a force wearing civilian uniforms held him after a peace rally and detained him for five days until Tuesday.

He said that they photographed him next to a grenade packaging that they brought themselves.

He mentioned the arrest of a large number of demonstrators.

Radio Dabanga’s editorial independence means that we can continue to provide factual updates about political developments to Sudanese and international actors, educate people about how to avoid outbreaks of infectious diseases, and provide a window to the world for those in all corners of Sudan. Support Radio Dabanga for as little as €2.50, the equivalent of a cup of coffee.