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A woman weeps as southern Sudanese clashes with police leaves 24 people killed - reuters
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August 01, 2005, 18:30
At least 24 people were killed when thousands of southern Sudanese clashed with police in Khartoum following the death of John Garang, a former rebel leader, police officers and witnesses said.
"There are 24 bodies now in the hospital," one officer said at a hospital where bodies were brought in ambulances, public transport vehicles and police cars. Another police officer at the hospital gave the same figure for the number of dead.
The rioting was some of the worst in the Sudanese capital in recent years. In May, displaced southerners attacked a police station in a camp on the outskirts of the capital and at least 17 police and residents were killed in the violence. The government earlier said it had no information about any deaths in Monday's melee. The Khartoum governor announced a curfew from six pm (1500 GMT) until six am (0300 GMT) in the capital.
Havoc in the streets
"People have been running all over the streets. The policemen are taking people from the streets. There is fire and smoke," a witness said. The rioters, some wielding knives and bars, also looted shops.
A key figure in a January peace deal and leader of southern Sudan's rebel movement during its two decades of war with the government in Khartoum, Garang died over the weekend after the Ugandan presidential helicopter he was travelling in went down in bad weather.
His death came just weeks after he returned triumphant to Khartoum to join the government as first vice president. - Reuters
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