Three dead in knife attack at Sudan mosque

Sadness and anger prevailed in Sudan’s Kassala on Tuesday after a knife-wielding attacker killed two worshippers and wounded eight others after evening prayers at a mosque in the city.

Witnesses told Radio Dabanga that the Imam of the mosque denied a member of the Salafist Islamic fundamentalist stream the use of the loudspeaker at Makram El Darwa Mosque. The attacker then produced a knife and stabbed the Imam and nine others.

One of the worshippers, Mohamed Ali Idris died on the spot. Saleh Mohamed Ali died later at Kassala Teaching Hospital.

Abdelgadir Wad Sharouf, Bakheet Omar Ali, Omar Mohamed Juma, Juma Mohamed Ali, Ibrahim and Idris Osman Mohamed, were injured in the attack.

Bystanders immediately turned on the offender and killed him.

The attacker, identified as Jafar Babikir, reportedly had threatened the worshipers at another mosque with a knife and spoke obscene words earlier on Tuesday.

Residents of the state held the state government responsible for the incident for not taking harsh measures against extremist thought.