US warns of threats against Sudan government, West
By Andrew Heavens
KHARTOUM, June 24 (Reuters) - Islamic militants have threatened violence against Sudan's government and could target Western interests following the death of a suspected militant, the U.S. embassy in Khartoum said on Wednesday.
The U.S. embassy, which urged its citizens to keep a low profile and restrict their travel, did not give details of the "jihadist website" it said had published the threats or the suspected militant that had been killed.
The warning comes at a time of already heightened tension in the capital, where a judge was due on Wednesday to issue a verdict in the case of five men accused of murdering a U.S. aid worker and his driver.
Sudan, which hosted al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in the 1990s before expelling him, has been on a U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism since 1993.
The U.S. embassy's warden message said: "Statements threatening violent action against the government of Sudan have been posted on a jihadist website, following the death of a suspected Islamic extremist."
It said calls to attack government targets "and/or Western interests" might be repeated during Friday prayers, and warned citizens not to travel inside the capital from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. on that day.
Sudanese state media last week reported a university professor, wanted on charges related to extremism, had died after a police chase.
A police spokesman was quoted as saying someone threw a stone at the suspect while he was trying to get away from officers on a motorcycle on Wednesday last week, thinking he was a thief, and he died later in hospital of head injuries.
U.S. officials have acknowledged Sudan has been cooperative in sharing intelligence on militant groups since the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001. But Western embassies have continued to warn that militants remain active in Sudan.
Al Qaeda's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri in 2007 criticised President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for letting international peacekeepers into the country's Darfur region and accused him of abandoning Islam to appease the United States.
In August 2007, Sudanese security services said they had broken up a plot to attack the French, British, U.S. and U.N. diplomatic missions in Khartoum. (Writing by Andrew Heavens)
