Sudan paramilitaries shoot dead civilian

Members of a feared Sudanese paramilitary force shot dead a civilian Sunday in a town southeast of the capital as angry residents protested against the paramilitaries, witnesses and doctors said.

The incident occurred in El-Souk in the state of Sinnar when residents of the town rallied demanding that members of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) leave the town, witnesses told AFP.

"Residents of the town had gathered outside the office of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) to complain about the RSF," a witness said.

"RSF members deployed and initially started shooting in the air but later they opened fire at residents, killing a man and wounding several other people," said the witness, who declined to be named for security reasons.

A committee of doctors linked to the country's umbrella protest movement, the Alliance for Freedom and Change, confirmed the incident.

The resident "was killed by gunshot in his head fired by Rapid Support Forces militia," it said in a statement, adding that seven others were wounded including a child who received a head injury.

Witnesses said El-Souk residents had gone to the NISS office to complain after the RSF raided a youth club on Saturday during a rally held to mourn the deaths of demonstrators killed in a Khartoum sit-in on June 3.

"During that rally the RSF raided a youth club and beat the youths there," one witness said.

On Saturday, protesters held rallies in several cities and towns across the country, including in Khartoum, to mourn those killed in the raid on the protest camp outside army headquarters in the capital.

Protesters and rights groups allege that the raid on the sit-in in central Khartoum was carried out by members of the RSF.

More than 100 demonstrators were killed when armed men in military fatigues stormed the area and cracked down on protesters who had been camped out for weeks, doctors close to the protesters have said.

RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo is the deputy chief of Sudan's ruling military council that seized power after the army's ouster of longtime ruler Omar al-Bashir in April following nationwide protests against his rule.

Dagalo has dismissed claims that the RSF was responsible for the deadly June crackdown, saying it was an attempt to distort the image of his force.

Meanwhile talks expected Sunday between Sudan's general and protest leaders to discuss the finer details of a recently agreed power sharing accord were postponed for the second consecutive day at the request of protest leaders.

"We asked that the talks be postponed until Tuesday in order to have more consultations," Siddiq Youssef, head of the communist party and a member of the protest alliance, told AFP.

Earlier this month the military council and protest leaders reached a landmark power sharing agreement to set up a joint civilian-military governing body after intense mediation by the African Union and Ethiopia.