UN calls for probe into Sudan protester deaths

The Sudanese government should launch an “independent and credible” investigation into the deaths of eight protesters killed amid unprecedented violence, the U.N. human rights body said Friday. Amnesty International said the eight killed at an anti-government protest in the Darfur region were shot with live ammunition used in automatic rifles, citing medical sources. “We call on the government to launch an independent investigation into this,” Ravina Shamdasani, from the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said. At least five of those killed during Tuesday’s protest in the South Darfur state capital Nyala were students aged 17 and under, Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva. Another 50 people were injured, she said, adding that security forces were suspected of using live rounds and tear gas to quell the demonstration. Police have said they were forced to act when Tuesday’s protest escalated, but exercised only minimum force. They did not say whether they had fired live ammunition. Shamdasani said that the demonstrators burned tires and threw stones but that did not warrant the excessive use of force. Amnesty International said eight bodies placed in a morgue had chest wounds caused by 5.56 mm and 7.62 mm automatic rifle ammunition, some inflicted at close range, citing staff at Nyala Public Hospital, in a statement late Thursday. (daily star)