A Sudanese soldier fatally shot the occupants of a tuk-tuk that sped through a military checkpoint in Khartoum during a coronavirus curfew, the army said Sunday.

“A speeding motorised rickshaw drove through a military checkpoint in Khartoum without stopping… at 9:00 pm” Saturday evening, army spokesman Brigadier Amer Mohamed al-Hassan said in a brief statement.
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“As they ignored instructions to stop, a soldier opened fire, injuring those aboard.”

He said the two people in the vehicle were taken to hospital, where they died.

Authorities imposed a strict round-the-clock curfew in Khartoum for three weeks from April 18 to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus, extending the curfew earlier this month for another 10 days.
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The capital and its twin city Omdurman have a combined population of more than five million.

Sudan has reported 2,289 cases of the COVID-19 illness, including 97 deaths.

The army apologised for Saturday evening’s incident and said the soldier had been detained pending an investigation.

Since March, Sudan has imposed a state of emergency, shuttering schools and universities and almost completely sealing off its borders.
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