Death of 3rd protester in Sudan, Police shoot at mourners outside dead protester’s home

Sudanese activists say a protester who suffered a gunshot wound during clashes with police has died, raising to three the death toll from the violence in the capital Khartoum.

They say the protester died in hospital early on Friday, January 18, a day after thousands of demonstrators demanding that the country's longtime ruler Omar al-Bashir step down clashed with police, who used tear gas and rubber bullets and fired live rounds in the air.

Thursday's protests in Khartoum were the latest in four weeks of demonstrations across much of Sudan initially triggered by price increases and shortages but soon shifted to calling on al-Bashir, in power since 1989, to resign. Rights groups say at least 40 people have died in the protests, but the government has only acknowledged 24 deaths.

Police started firing live ammunition at mourners outside the home of a 60-year-old protester who died early on Friday from a gunshot wound he sustained on Thursday night, a Reuters witness said. Around 2 000 mourners had gathered in the Burri neighbourhood where the man, Moawia Othman, was shot on Thursday. A child and a doctor were also shot dead in Burri on Thursday, the Sudan Doctors' Committee, a group linked to the opposition, said.

"We will continue to protest until the government falls because we want to provide a better life for our children," a 47-year-old teacher among the demonstrators said.