KHARTOUM: Sudan's public prosecutor on Monday announced the discovery of a mass grave east of Khartoum suspected to contain the remains of students killed in 1998 who tried escaping military service from a training camp.
An investigation has been launched, the prosecutor said, adding that some of the suspected killers belonging to the ousted administration of Omar al-Bashir had fled.
A source in the investigators' team told Reuters dozens of bodies had been found at the site east of the capital.
The prosecutor said the conscripts were shot while fleeing the El Eifalun camp fearing they would be sent to southern Sudan where Bashir's Islamist regime was fighting a civil war with rebels.
Poorly trained and equipped conscripts were sent into the bush fighting against the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA).
The students were also angry that they had been denied time to spend with their families during an Islamic holiday, according to the prosecutor.
No more details were immediately available.
Commanders and instructors of conscripts were often members of Bashir's ruling party and allied Islamists which often framed the conflict against the SPLA, from the mainly Christian south, as holy war.
The Sudan People's Liberation Movement, the political wing of the SPLA, won independence for the south in 2011 following a peace deal with Bashir's regime in 2005.
Sudan finds mass grave of conscripts killed during Bashir's rule
https://arab.news/g6uzy
Sudan finds mass grave of conscripts killed during Bashir's rule
- Some of the suspected killers belonging to the ousted administration of Omar al-Bashir had fled
- The prosecutor said the conscripts were shot while fleeing the El Eifalun camp
Syrian government foils Daesh plot to attack churches and New Year celebrations
- Bomber kills soldier in Aleppo, detonates explosives injuring 2 others
ALEPPO, DAMASCUS: The Syrian Interior Ministry announced on Thursday that it had thwarted a Daesh plot to carry out suicide attacks targeting New Year celebrations and churches, particularly in Aleppo.
The ministry said in a statement that, as part of ongoing counterterrorism efforts and careful monitoring of Daesh cells in cooperation with partner agencies, it had received intelligence indicating plans for suicide attacks targeting New Year celebrations in several provinces, particularly Aleppo, with a focus on churches and civilian gathering areas.
The ministry added that it took preemptive measures, including reinforcing security around churches, deploying mobile and fixed patrols, and setting up checkpoints across the city.
During operations at a checkpoint in Aleppo’s Bab Al-Faraj district, security forces intercepted a suspected Daesh member who opened fire. One internal security soldier was killed, and the attacker detonated explosives, injuring two others.
Daesh recently increased its attacks in Syria, and was blamed for an attack last month in Palmyra that killed three Americans.
On Dec. 13, two US soldiers and an American civilian were killed in an attack Washington blamed on a lone Daesh gunman in Palmyra.
In retaliation, American forces struck scores of Daesh targets in Syria.
Syrian authorities have also carried out several operations against Daesh since then, saying on Dec. 25 they had killed a senior leader of the group.
