A Sudanese official has denied that at least 100 people were killed by a paramilitary unit during protests, saying that the number was at most 46.

Doctors linked to the opposition on Wednesday said at least 100 people had been killed in the capital, Khartoum, amid pro-democracy protests.

They said 40 bodies were pulled from the River Nile in Khartoum on Tuesday.

Authorities had initially stayed quiet, but a health ministry official put the number at 46 early on Thursday.

Sudanese opposition activists have rejected an offer of talks from the country's military council, saying it cannot be trusted amid a violent crackdown on protesters.

Residents told the BBC they were living in fear in the capital.

The deputy head of the military council defended the violent suppression, claiming that the protesters had been infiltrated by rogue elements and drug dealers.

"We will not allow chaos and we will not go back on our convictions. There is no way back. We must impose the respect of the country by law," said Mohammed Hamadan - also known as Hemedti - on Wednesday.

Numerous reports from Khartoum said the paramilitary unit, the feared Rapid Support Forces (RSF), was roaming the city's nearly deserted streets, targeting civilians.

Formerly known as the Janjaweed militia, the RSF gained notoriety for brutal atrocities in the Darfur conflict in western Sudan in 2003. </s> A Sudanese official has denied that at least 100 people were killed by a paramilitary unit during protests, saying that the number was at most 46.

Doctors linked to the opposition on Wednesday said at least 100 people had been killed in the capital, Khartoum, amid pro-democracy protests.

They said 40 bodies were pulled from the River Nile in Khartoum on Tuesday.

Authorities had initially stayed quiet, but a health ministry official put the number at 46 early on Thursday.

Sudanese opposition activists have rejected an offer of talks from the country’s military council, saying it cannot be trusted amid a violent crackdown on protesters.

Residents told the BBC they were living in fear in the capital.

The deputy head of the military council defended the violent suppression, claiming that the protesters had been infiltrated by rogue elements and drug dealers.

“We will not allow chaos and we will not go back on our convictions. There is no way back. We must impose the respect of the country by law,” said Mohammed Hamadan – also known as Hemeti – on Wednesday.

Numerous reports from Khartoum said the paramilitary unit, the feared Rapid Support Forces (RSF), was roaming the city’s nearly deserted streets, targeting civilians.

Formerly known as the Janjaweed militia, the RSF gained notoriety for brutal atrocities in the Darfur conflict in western Sudan in 2003.

Reports continue to come in of these militia going into neighbourhoods and killing people. Their leader claims it is impostors behind the violence. </s> Image copyright Reuters Image caption A Sudanese protester stands on a barricade in Khartoum on Wednesday

A Sudanese official has denied that at least 100 people were killed by a paramilitary unit during protests, saying that the number was at most 46.

Doctors linked to the opposition on Wednesday said at least 100 people had been killed in the capital, Khartoum, amid pro-democracy protests.

They said 40 bodies were pulled from the River Nile in Khartoum on Tuesday.

Authorities had initially stayed quiet, but a health ministry official put the number at 46 early on Thursday.

Sudanese opposition activists have rejected an offer of talks from the country's military council, saying it cannot be trusted amid a violent crackdown on protesters.

Residents told the BBC they were living in fear in the capital.

The deputy head of the military council defended the violent suppression, claiming that the protesters had been infiltrated by rogue elements and drug dealers.

"We will not allow chaos and we will not go back on our convictions. There is no way back. We must impose the respect of the country by law," said Mohammed Hamadan - also known as Hemeti - on Wednesday.

Numerous reports from Khartoum said the paramilitary unit, the feared Rapid Support Forces (RSF), was roaming the city's nearly deserted streets, targeting civilians.

Image copyright AFP Image caption Security forces, seen here on Monday, moved against protesters after a long stand-off

Formerly known as the Janjaweed militia, the RSF gained notoriety for brutal atrocities in the Darfur conflict in western Sudan in 2003.

Reports continue to come in of these militia going into neighbourhoods and killing people. Their leader claims it is impostors behind the violence.

Doctors afraid of going to work

By Catherine Byaruhanga, BBC News, Khartoum

People are still coming to terms with the violence of the last few days.

At the former sit-in area - there are torn and charred posters as well as burnt-out tents.

The fear is that more of the dead could still be there.

Security forces seem to outnumber civilians on the streets of the capital.

Reports continue to come in of their brutal crackdown.

At Ibrahim Maleek Teaching Hospital - the doctors and nurses have not come to work because they're afraid of being targeted. Instead, it's the medical students who are treating patients.

Like 33-year-old Mohanned Mirghani - he says he was shot at close range by the Rapid Support Forces. "They shot me from close range; the RSF were the distance that you are from me now. Two of my friends were also shot but I don't know what happened to them."

It's hard to get a proper sense of what's happened. One big hindrance is the fact that the military rulers have cut off the internet.

What was the lead-up to the latest violence?

Sudan has been controlled by a military council since pro-democracy protests led to the ousting of veteran President Omar al-Bashir in April, after 30 years of authoritarian rule.

Demonstrators had been occupying the square in front of the military headquarters, while their representatives had negotiated with the military council and agreed a three-year transition that would culminate in elections.

But on Monday, security forces swept in and opened fire on unarmed protesters in the square. General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of the military council, announced that the agreement was cancelled and an election would take place within nine months.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Sudan military attacks protesters

On Wednesday, however, after Saudi Arabia publicly called for a resumption of talks, Gen Burhan reversed course and said the military council would "open our arms to negotiate with no restriction".

The offer was rejected by the opposition. "The Sudanese people are not open for talks," said Amjad Farid, a spokesman for the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) which spearheaded the protests against Mr Bashir.

"The Sudanese people are not open to this TMC (Transitional Military Council) that kills people and we need justice and accountability before talks about any political process," Mr Farid told the AFP news agency.

What have residents been saying?

The Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors - one of the groups behind the protests - said on Wednesday that 40 bodies had been recovered from the River Nile.

An official from the group told the BBC that they had witnessed and verified the bodies in hospitals and that the death toll now stood at at least 100.

A former security officer quoted by Yousra Elbagir, a journalist with the UK's Channel 4, said that some of those thrown into the Nile had been beaten or shot to death and others hacked to death with machetes.

"It was a massacre," the unnamed source said.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Many Khartoum streets are deserted

Much of Khartoum has been under lockdown in the wake of the killings. Witnesses told the BBC that protesters had retreated to residential areas, where they were building barricades and burning tyres.

"We have reached the point where we can't even step out of our homes because we are scared to be beaten or to be shot by the security forces," one Khartoum resident said, asking not to be named.

Another resident told the BBC he had been pulled from his car by members of the RSF and beaten on his head and back.

A pharmacist who spoke to the BBC from Khartoum said RSF troops were shutting down hospitals to prevent civilians receiving treatment.

"They kicked us out from two hospitals that were giving aid to the injured and the victims of the gunshots," he said. "It's an order from the military council to shut down those hospitals because we were giving aid for the citizens."

A woman, identified only as Sulaima, told the BBC that troops from the Rapid Support Forces were "all over Khartoum".

"They're surrounding neighbourhoods, they're threatening people. They're also using live ammunition. They're everywhere. We're not feeling safe and we don't have trust in the security forces. It's complete chaos."

Large numbers of heavily armed troops were also reported on the streets of Omdurman, Sudan's second-largest city, just across the River Nile from Khartoum.

Are you in the area? If it is safe to do so, please share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.

Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways: </s> Sudanese protest leaders have “totally” rejected the military’s offer for an unconditional resumption of talks as opposition-linked doctors said the death toll since a violent dispersal of a protest camp in the capital jumped to more than 100.

The number of those killed rose on Wednesday after the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors said 40 bodies were pulled from the Nile River and taken to an unknown location by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The committee said the bodies were retrieved from the river on Tuesday, a day after security forces stormed the weeks-long sit-in outside the military headquarters in the capital, Khartoum.

It said the number of those killed was at least 108 but warned that it was likely to rise. More than 500 people were wounded.

In the early hours of Thursday, however, state news agency SUNA cited a health official as saying that the death toll did not exceed 46.

The raid on Monday marked a pivotal moment in the weeks-long struggle between the powerful military council and opposition groups over who should lead Sudan‘s transition to democracy following the removal of President Omar al-Bashir in April.

Immediately after the crackdown, the military council cancelled all agreements it had reached with the opposition, but on Wednesday it rowed back amid mounting international criticism of the violence.

General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of the military council, said the body was ready to resume negotiations and that there would be “no restrictions” in talks with the leaders behind the months-long street protests.

“We in the military council extend our hand for negotiations without shackles except the interests of the homeland,” he said on state television.

But a Sudanese alliance of protesters and opposition groups rejected the offer, saying the military could not be trusted.

“Today the council invited us to dialogue and at the same time it is imposing fear on citizens in the streets,” Madani Abbas Madani, a leader of the Freedom and Change alliance, told Reuters news agency.

Mohammed Yousef al-Mustafa, spokesman for the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), which is also part of the alliance, said the protesters “totally reject” al-Burhan’s call.

“This call is not serious,” al-Mustafa told The Associated Press. “Burhan and those under him have killed the Sudanese and are still doing it. Their vehicles patrol the streets, firing at people.

“We will continue in our protests, resistance, strike and total civil disobedience,” he added.

Khartoum remained tense on Wednesday, with demonstrators blocking streets in several districts as gunfire rang out in the distance.

The RSF, which protesters accuse of carrying out Monday’s attack, “are all around on the main streets, and protesters are burning tyres and still blocking the roads,” said Hajooj, a protester.

“Moving around the capital is very hard and we are hearing gunfire. The RSF are stopping people, checking pockets, mobile phones and looting people. So it’s not safe. There’s also been reports of rapes and beatings. The internet has been cut so protesters are not able to share live videos and share information,” he told Al Jazeera from Khartoum.

A senior Sudanese rebel leader who returned from exile after al-Bashir’s overthrow was also arrested at his house, a spokesman for his organisation said.

Yasir Arman, the deputy head of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) group, was seized from the house where he was staying in Khartoum by armed men who arrived in pick-up trucks and surrounded the building, the spokesman said.

“They took him without clarifying to us the place (they would take him to) and said they were from the National Intelligence and Security Service,” said Mubarak Ardol, adding that the armed men “beat” Arman and his assistant and destroyed surveillance cameras outside the house.

Meanwhile, most shops were shuttered on what would usually have been a bustling Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday. Minor protests erupted outside mosques after Eid prayers but there were no reports of significant clashes with security forces.

The deputy head of the military council, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, commonly known as Hemeti, said in a televised speech that it had launched “an urgent and transparent investigation” into the recent violence.

“Any person who crossed boundaries has to be punished,” said Hemeti, who also heads the RSF.

The military has denied trying to clear the sit-in protest, saying its forces moved in to deal with disruptive groups nearby and the violence spread from there.

The SPA has called for an international committee to investigate Monday’s deaths in what it branded a “massacre”.

The last previously reported death toll stood at 40 but the doctors’ committee said security forces killed at least 10 people on Wednesday in Khartoum and its twin city of Omdurman. That came after another 10 people were killed on Tuesday, including five in the White Nile state, three in Omdurman and two in Khartoum’s Bahri neighbourhood. The total of 101 includes the 40 bodies pulled from the river.

The doctors’ committee also said that at least 326 people have been wounded in clashes in the past two days and that it feared the final death toll would be much higher.

David Shinn, a former senior US diplomat in Sudan, said the prospect for talks was dim as long as the violence continued.

“You cannot have successful negotiations between the protest groups and the military so long as the security forces are killing fellow Sudanese. This has to stop. Until it does, I don’t see any prospect for meaningful negotiations,” he told Al Jazeera.

Saudi Arabia, which has close ties to Sudan’s military council, said on Wednesday it was watching developments with great concern and called for more dialogue.

US National Security Adviser John Bolton said in a Twitter post that Monday’s violence by Sudan’s security forces was “abhorrent” and demanded that the military council facilitate moves towards a civilian-led government.

The United Nations Security Council met on Tuesday but failed to agree on a common position.

Afterwards, eight European countries said in a joint statement that they “condemn the violent attacks in Sudan by Sudanese security services against civilians” and that the military council’s timeframe for elections was “too short”.

The European statement added: “We call for an agreed transfer of power to a civilian-led government as demanded by the people of Sudan.

Several airlines have cancelled flights to Khartoum, including Bahrain’s Gulf Air, flydubai and EgyptAir.

Sudan has been rocked by unrest since December, when anger over rising bread prices and cash shortages broke into sustained protests against al-Bashir that culminated in the military removing him after three decades in office. </s> "A commission of inquiry formed by the prosecutor general of Sudan to investigate the events near the military command headquarters [in Khartoum] began operating and is interrogating several witnesses," the source said, adding that the investigation will be completed shortly.

READ MORE: Sudan Health Ministry Denies Protest Death Toll of Over 100, Claims 46 Killed

On Wednesday, the Sudanese Transitional Military Council (TMC)’s head, Abdel Fattah Abdelrahman Burhan, said it was recommended that the Office of the Prosecutor General conducts an impartial investigation into the armed dispersal of the protesters' camp in Khartoum, during which the security forces used firearms and killed 14 people.

On Monday, Sudanese security forces attacked a sit-in protest camp near the military headquarters in Khartoum, firing at the protesters and killing 14.

According to the opposition Central Committee of Sudan Doctors, as many as 60 people were killed in the clashes, hundreds were wounded. Protesters have been demanding the military resign and hands power over to civilian rule since 6 April.

On Tuesday, Burhan held a television address in which he announced the termination of negotiations with the opposition. He called for general elections to be held within nine months and announced forming an interim caretaker government to run the country until then.

Long-standing popular protests in Sudan culminated in a military coup on 11 April, when then-President Omar Bashir was overthrown and detained after almost 30 years in power.

The TMC took over and pledged to organize new presidential elections within two years. Protesters have remained in the streets demanding that the military yield power to a civilian authority. </s> At least 40 bodies were pulled from the Nile River in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, organizers of pro-democracy protests said Wednesday, bringing the death toll since the violent dispersal of a sit-in outside the military's headquarters to 100.

The Sudan Doctors' Committee said Wednesday the bodies were pulled out a day earlier, and that they were taken by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces to an unknown location. The sit-in was broken up by the military on Monday.

One activist, Amal al-Zein, said the number could be even higher. She said dozens of bodies had been pulled from the Nile in different places near the sit-in area and were taken to a hospital morgue.

"Some bodies have wounds from bullets, others seemed to have beaten and thrown in the Nile," she said.

The announcement came as Sudanese protest leaders dismissed a call for talks with the ruling generals, saying the military cannot be serious about negotiations while troops keep shooting and killing protesters.

A spokesman for the protesters said they would instead continue their pro-democracy campaign to pressure the military to hand over power to a civilian authority.

Earlier on Wednesday, the head of the military council, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, said the generals were ready to resume negotiations and that there would be "no restrictions" in talks with the leaders behind the months-long street protests.

"We open our hands to negotiations with all parties ... for the interest of the nation," Burhan said, adding that those responsible for the violent beak-up of the demonstrators' sit-in in the capital, Khartoum, would be held accountable.

The motives for Burhan's about-face — if sincere — were not immediately clear. Burhan had earlier cut the negotiations and canceled all agreed-on points between the military and the Forces for Declaration of Freedom and Change, an alliance which represents the protesters.

Mohammed Yousef al-Mustafa, a spokesman for the Sudanese Professionals Association, which is also part of the alliance and which is leading the demonstrations, said the protesters "totally reject" Burhan's call.

"This call is not serious," al-Mustafa told The Associated Press. "Burhan and those under him have killed the Sudanese and are still doing it. Their vehicles patrol the streets, firing at people."

"We will continue in our protests, resistance, strike and total civil disobedience," he added.

Meanwhile, the death toll in the military's crackdown reached 100 on Wednesday, organizers said. The mounting casualties are the latest challenge to the protest movement, which now aims to show it can keep up pressure in the streets after its central rallying point — the weeks-long sit-in outside the military headquarters in Khartoum — was wiped out on Monday.

In April, the movement succeeded in forcing the military to remove Sudan's longtime strongman, Omar al-Bashir. It then kept its sit-in going, demanding that the generals who took power hand over authority to civilians.

The last previously reported death toll stood at 40 but the doctors committee said security forces killed at least 10 people on Wednesday in Khartoum and its twin city of Omdurman. That came after another 10 people were killed on Tuesday, including five in the White Nile state, three in Omdurman and two in Khartoum's Bahri neighborhood. That total 100 includes the 40 bodies pulled from the river.

The doctors' committee, the medical arm of the Sudanese Professionals Association, also said that at least 326 people have been wounded in clashes in the past two days and that it feared the final death toll would be much higher.

Activists Mohammed Najib and Hashim al-Sudani said there were street battles late Tuesday and early Wednesday in Khartoum's Bahri and Buri districts between protesters and security forces, mainly from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF.

"In Buri, there were lots of shootings and tear gas," al-Sudani said. "They tried to force people into narrow streets" to beat them.

The opposition Congress Party reported more protests on Wednesday, posting footage showing hundreds of people marching in Omdurman.

On Monday, members of the RSF, which human rights groups say carried out rapes, torture and killings of civilians in Sudan's Darfur region, and other troops waded into the protest camp outside the military's headquarters in Khartoum, opening fire and burning down tents. Other troops crushed two smaller sit-ins organized by the protesters elsewhere.

After al-Bashir's ouster, for weeks, the military and protest leaders negotiated over the makeup of a transitional council meant to run the country for three years before elections. Protesters demand that civilians dominate the council, but the generals resisted.

The crackdown put an end to the relative peace that surrounded the talks and signaled the military had lost patience with activists' demands, putting the two sides on the path of a potentially longer confrontation with increasing violence.

Burhan's call for negotiations marked a significant change from his televised speech only a day earlier, when he blamed protest leaders for the volatile situation, accusing them of drawing out negotiations and trying to exclude some "political and security forces" from taking part in any transitional government.

He also announced Tuesday that the military would unilaterally form an interim government and hold elections sooner, within seven to nine months, under international supervision. Protesters had also rejected that because it would put the military in charge of running the election.

Since Monday, tensions have remained high in Khartoum and elsewhere as demonstrators staged scattered rallies and blocked main roads with barricades. Security forces have been seen in online videos, patrolling Khartoum districts.

Madani Abbas Madani, a leading activist, said the protesters would continue an open-ended civil disobedience campaign until the overthrow of the ruling military council.

"What happened on Monday was a systematic and planned attempt to impose repression on the Sudanese people," he said.

In a joint statement, the U.S., Norway and Britain have condemned the security forces' crackdown. The statement, released late Tuesday, said Sudan's military council "put the transition process and peace in Sudan in jeopardy" by ordering attacks on protesters. </s> Bassam Hatoum And Samy Magdy, The Associated Press 

 



KHARTOUM, Sudan -- At least 40 bodies were pulled from the Nile River in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, organizers of pro-democracy protests said Wednesday, bringing the death toll since the violent dispersal of a sit-in outside the military's headquarters to 100.

The Sudan Doctors' Committee said Wednesday the bodies were pulled out a day earlier, and that they were taken by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces to an unknown location. The sit-in was broken up by the military on Monday.

One activist, Amal al-Zein, said the number could be even higher. She said dozens of bodies had been pulled from the Nile in different places near the sit-in area and were taken to a hospital morgue.

“Some bodies have wounds from bullets, others seemed to have beaten and thrown in the Nile,” she said.

The announcement came as Sudanese protest leaders dismissed a call for talks with the ruling generals, saying the military cannot be serious about negotiations while troops keep shooting and killing protesters.

A spokesman for the protesters said they would instead continue their pro-democracy campaign to pressure the military to hand over power to a civilian authority.

Earlier on Wednesday, the head of the military council, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, said the generals were ready to resume negotiations and that there would be “no restrictions” in talks with the leaders behind the months-long street protests.

“We open our hands to negotiations with all parties ... for the interest of the nation,” Burhan said, adding that those responsible for the violent beak-up of the demonstrators' sit-in in the capital, Khartoum, would be held accountable.

The motives for Burhan's about-face - if sincere - were not immediately clear. Burhan had earlier cut the negotiations and cancelled all agreed-on points between the military and the Forces for Declaration of Freedom and Change, an alliance which represents the protesters.

Mohammed Yousef al-Mustafa, a spokesman for the Sudanese Professionals Association, which is also part of the alliance and which is leading the demonstrations, said the protesters “totally reject” Burhan's call.

“This call is not serious,” al-Mustafa told The Associated Press. “Burhan and those under him have killed the Sudanese and are still doing it. Their vehicles patrol the streets, firing at people.”

“We will continue in our protests, resistance, strike and total civil disobedience,” he added.

Meanwhile, the death toll in the military's crackdown reached 100 on Wednesday, organizers said. The mounting casualties are the latest challenge to the protest movement, which now aims to show it can keep up pressure in the streets after its central rallying point - the weeks-long sit-in outside the military headquarters in Khartoum - was wiped out on Monday.

In April, the movement succeeded in forcing the military to remove Sudan's longtime strongman, Omar al-Bashir. It then kept its sit-in going, demanding that the generals who took power hand over authority to civilians.

The last previously reported death toll stood at 40 but the doctors committee said security forces killed at least 10 people on Wednesday in Khartoum and its twin city of Omdurman. That came after another 10 people were killed on Tuesday, including five in the White Nile state, three in Omdurman and two in Khartoum's Bahri neighbourhood. That total 100 includes the 40 bodies pulled from the river.

The doctors' committee, the medical arm of the Sudanese Professionals Association, also said that at least 326 people have been wounded in clashes in the past two days and that it feared the final death toll would be much higher.

Activists Mohammed Najib and Hashim al-Sudani said there were street battles late Tuesday and early Wednesday in Khartoum's Bahri and Buri districts between protesters and security forces, mainly from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF.

“In Buri, there were lots of shootings and tear gas,” al-Sudani said. “They tried to force people into narrow streets” to beat them.

The opposition Congress Party reported more protests on Wednesday, posting footage showing hundreds of people marching in Omdurman.

On Monday, members of the RSF, which human rights groups say carried out rapes, torture and killings of civilians in Sudan's Darfur region, and other troops waded into the protest camp outside the military's headquarters in Khartoum, opening fire and burning down tents. Other troops crushed two smaller sit-ins organized by the protesters elsewhere.

After al-Bashir's ouster, for weeks, the military and protest leaders negotiated over the makeup of a transitional council meant to run the country for three years before elections. Protesters demand that civilians dominate the council, but the generals resisted.

The crackdown put an end to the relative peace that surrounded the talks and signalled the military had lost patience with activists' demands, putting the two sides on the path of a potentially longer confrontation with increasing violence.

Burhan's call for negotiations marked a significant change from his televised speech only a day earlier, when he blamed protest leaders for the volatile situation, accusing them of drawing out negotiations and trying to exclude some “political and security forces” from taking part in any transitional government.

He also announced Tuesday that the military would unilaterally form an interim government and hold elections sooner, within seven to nine months, under international supervision. Protesters had also rejected that because it would put the military in charge of running the election.

Since Monday, tensions have remained high in Khartoum and elsewhere as demonstrators staged scattered rallies and blocked main roads with barricades. Security forces have been seen in online videos, patrolling Khartoum districts.

Madani Abbas Madani, a leading activist, said the protesters would continue an open-ended civil disobedience campaign until the overthrow of the ruling military council.

“What happened on Monday was a systematic and planned attempt to impose repression on the Sudanese people,” he said.

In a joint statement, the U.S., Norway and Britain have condemned the security forces' crackdown. The statement, released late Tuesday, said Sudan's military council “put the transition process and peace in Sudan in jeopardy” by ordering attacks on protesters. </s> KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan’s military rulers offered to resume talks with opposition groups on Wednesday, two days after security forces mounted a deadly raid on a protest camp, but the opposition rejected the invitation.

Medics linked to the opposition said the death toll from Monday’s operation and subsequent unrest had risen to 108 and that it was expected to increase. State news agency SUNA early on Thursday put the number much lower, at 46, citing a health ministry official.

The raid, which followed weeks of wrangling between the ruling military council and opposition groups over who should lead Sudan’s transition to democracy, marked the worst outbreak of violence since the army ousted President Omar al-Bashir in April after months of protests against his 30-year rule.

The Transitional Military Council cancelled all agreements it had reached with the opposition immediately after the raid, but it rowed back on Wednesday amid mounting international criticism of the violence.

“We in the military council extend our hand for negotiations without shackles except the interests of the homeland,” its head, Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, said on state TV.

But a Sudanese alliance of protesters and opposition groups rejected the offer, saying the military could not be trusted.

“Today the council invited us to dialogue and at the same time it is imposing fear on citizens in the streets,” Madani Abbas Madani, a leader of the Declaration of Freedom and Change Forces (DFCF), told Reuters.

Madani said Burhan’s invitation had come before the arrest of one of the opposition alliance members, Yasir Arman, deputy head of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) rebel group.

Opposition medics said 40 bodies that had been pulled out of the Nile on Tuesday were among the 108 killed. The bodies were taken to an unknown destination by pickup trucks belonging to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, the medics said. Reuters was not immediately able to verify the report.

A military council spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment, but the council said on Twitter that some Rapid Support Forces members had been attacked and that people had put on their uniforms to impersonate them in an attempt to harm their reputation.

The mood in the capital, Khartoum, remained tense on Wednesday, with demonstrators blocking streets in several districts. Gunfire rang out in the distance.

Most shops were shuttered on what would usually have been a bustling Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday. Minor protests erupted outside mosques after Eid prayers, but there were no reports of significant clashes with security forces.

The deputy head of the military council, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, commonly known as Hemedti, said in a televised speech that it had launched “an urgent and transparent investigation” into the recent violence.

“Any person who crossed boundaries has to be punished,” he added.

The military has denied trying to clear the sit-in protest outside the defence ministry on Monday. Its spokesman said forces moved in to deal with disruptive groups nearby and the violence spread from there.

Saudi Arabia, which has close ties to Sudan’s military council, said on Wednesday it was watching developments with great concern and called for more dialogue.

U.S. national security adviser John Bolton said in a Twitter post that Monday’s violence by Sudan’s security forces was “abhorrent” and demanded that the military council facilitate moves towards a civilian-led government.

The main protest organizer, the Sudanese Professionals Association, has called for an international committee to investigate Monday’s deaths in what it branded a “massacre”.

Several airlines have cancelled flights to Khartoum, including Bahrain’s Gulf Air, flydubai and EgyptAir.

Sudan has been rocked by unrest since December, when anger over rising bread prices and cash shortages broke into sustained protests against Bashir that culminated in the military removing him after three decades in office. </s> Tens of thousands of Sudanese protesters took to the streets on Sunday to call for an immediate transition to civilian rule, in the biggest mass demonstrations since dozens were gunned down at the beginning of the month.

The “millions march” was organised across the country to mark 30 years since ousted President Omar al-Bashir came to power during a military coup.

Three hours into Sunday’s protests, Sudanese doctors had already reported the first casualty, saying a demonstrator was killed after being shot in the chest in the town of Atbara, in Sudan’s northeast. There were also reports of shooting and tear gas being used by security forces in capital, Khartoum.

On June 3rd, fighters from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) used violence to disperse a massive weeks-long sit-in by thousands of civilians in front of the military headquarters in Khartoum. Activists said some bodies were subsequently thrown into the Nile.

More than 100 people were killed and more than 700 injured, according to Amnesty International. Doctors present said both women and men were also victims of sexual violence.

The internet in Sudan has been blocked since the crackdown, but activists still found ways to spread word of Sunday’s protest, including with graffiti, announcing details through megaphones and by distributing leaflets.

Others, who found ways to get around the internet blockade, posted rallying messages online.

“The Sudanese revolution is proof that our language, culture and goals are the same: resistance, and we will win,” wrote Ahmad Mahmoud, one of the protesters, on Facebook.

The attempt to cut communication between Sudanese people and the outside world failed, Mr Mahmoud added, as evidenced by the #blueforsudan campaign, which saw people all over the world change their social media profiles to blue in solidarity with Sudan’s protesters.

Last week, Amnesty International secretary general Kumi Naidoo called on Sudan’s transitional authorities not to use violence against civilians again, and to uphold the Sudanese people’s rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association. “Since the bloody crackdown earlier this month, there has been an alarming regression on human rights,” Mr Naidoo said. “This includes an ongoing internet shutdown, attacks on the media and the refusal to allow opposition groups to organise public forums, as well as the continued dispersal of peaceful protesters using unnecessary and excessive force. This clampdown clearly points to the return of the repressive days associated with al-Bashir . . .

“The rest of the world has seen very clearly the passion with which Sudanese people are campaigning for their human rights. The world is watching.”

On Saturday, Sudan’s ruling military council warned Sudanese citizens not to take part in the protests, saying the opposition would be responsible if anyone was killed. Al-Bashir was ousted in a military coup on April 11th, following months of protests, and is now facing trial on charges of “possessing foreign currency and acquiring suspicious and illicit wealth”. However, protesters argue his regime continues to control the country.
A Sudanese official denies that 100 people were killed by a paramilitary unit during protests, saying that the number was at most 46.