Sudan: Death Toll of Anti-Coup Protests Rises to 40

By Staff, Agencies

The death toll in Sudan from anti-coup protests since last month's military takeover is at least 40, medics said Saturday after a teenager, who was shot in the head days earlier, died.

Protests on Wednesday provoked the deadliest day so far, with a toll of 16 people killed that day, according to medics.

"One martyr passed away... after he succumbed to severe wounds after being hit by live rounds to the head and the leg on November 17," the independent Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors said.

Most of those killed on Wednesday were north of the capital Khartoum, across the Nile River.

Police officials deny using any live ammunition, insisting they use "minimum force" to disperse the protests. 

They have recorded only one death, among demonstrators in North Khartoum.

Sudan's top general Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan on October 25 declared a state of emergency, ousted the government, and detained the civilian leadership.
The military takeover upended a two-year transition to civilian rule, drew wide international condemnation as well as punitive measures, and provoked people to take to the streets.
On Friday, small groups of protesters rallied in several neighborhoods against the military coup, especially in North Khartoum, and were seen building barricades across the roads. 
Security forces sporadically fired teargas to disperse them.