UPDATE 1-Sudanese opposition leader's daughter detained - family

Sudanese security forces on Wednesday detained Mariam Sadiq al-Mahdi, the daughter of a senior opposition leader who was Sudan's last democratically elected prime minister, her family said.

Two security vehicles arrived at Mariam's home on Wednesday morning and took her away, her sister Rabah Sadiq al-Mahdi told Reuters, a day after Sudan's security chief ordered the release of dozens of detained protesters. Mariam, a medical doctor, is the deputy head of the opposition Umma Party which her father Sadiq al-Mahdi heads.

The interior ministry could not immediately be reached for comment. Sudan has been gripped by a wave of anti-government protests that began on Dec. 19. Rights groups say at least 45 people have been killed. The government puts the deathcount at 30.

Sadiq al-Mahdi returned to Sudan last month from nearly a year in self-imposed exile and called for a democratic transition before thousands of supporters. He was overthrown in 1989 by an alliance of Islamists and military commanders that still form the nucleus of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir’s all-powerful National Congress Party. (Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz; Writing by Yousef Saba; Editing by Alison Williams and Andrew Heavens)