US Official Killed in Sudan Shooting

A US diplomat and his driver died today after being shot in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, US officials said.

"This afternoon, the American officer succumbed to his injuries and passed away," said Walter Braunohler, the public affairs officer at the US embassy in Khartoum.

The shooting came a day after a joint African Union -United Nations force took over peacekeeping duties in Sudan's crisis-hit Darfur region - but it was unclear if the attack was targeted, or a random crime.

Crime is fairly high in Khartoum but much lower than in other east African cities such as Nairobi, Kenya.

The situation in Darfur has fuelled anti-western and anti-US sentiment in parts of the country - and especially within Sudan's government. The US president, George Bush, called the conflict genocide.

The Sudanese president, Omar al-Bashir, has long resisted western demands that he accept a UN force, threatening to lead a "jihad" against any UN peacekeeper who sets foot in Darfur. But in June he accepted a compromise deal for deployment of a "hybrid mission" of mainly African troops.

In August, the US government warned its citizens that it had received credible information that "an extremist group based in Sudan may target US government interests or facilities".

Al-Arabiya television reported that the attack took place in a main street in Khartoum, and said the US official had been shot in the chest.

Braunohler said in a telephone interview with CNN that it was "too early to tell" if the shooting was a militant attack or a street crime.

Al-Arabiya said there was no immediate claim of responsibility and quoted the Sudanese foreign ministry as saying the shooting was the result of a traffic dispute.

President Bush yesterday signed into US law a measure that allows states, local governments, mutual funds and pension funds to cut investment in companies doing business in Sudan, particularly its oil sector.

Some 20 US states have begun divestment efforts because of the ethnic and political conflict in Darfur. Human rights groups say the crisis has cost about 200,000 lives and displaced some 2.5 million people since rebels took up arms against the government in 2003. Khartoum says only 9,000 have died.

The joint UN-African Union (AU) force yesterday replaced an ineffective AU peacekeeping mission in Darfur. Plans called for the deployment of 20,000 soldiers and 6,000 police, but numbers are currently at only about a third of those levels.