Sudan Fighting: United States’ Secretary Of State, Blinken Says US Diplomatic Convoy Fired Upon

A US diplomatic convoy came under fire in Sudan on Monday but nobody was hurt, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said.

“This action was reckless, it was irresponsible and of course unsafe,” he told reporters in Japan after G7 talks.

Sudan has been gripped for days by deadly fighting between rival forces.

Earlier, it was reported that the EU’s Ambassador in Sudan, Aidan O’Hara, was assaulted at his home in the capital, Khartoum.

Around 185 people have been killed and more than 1,800 injured in three days of fighting in Sudan, according to the UN. The city has seen air strikes, shelling and heavy small-arms fire.

Both the army and a paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) claim to control key sites in Khartoum, where residents have been sheltering from explosions.

Mr O’Hara was not “seriously hurt”, Irish Foreign Minister Micheál Martin confirmed.

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He described the attack as a “gross violation of obligations to protect diplomats”.

Mr Martin described the ambassador as an “outstanding Irish and European diplomat who is serving the EU under the most difficult circumstances”.

“We thank him for his service and call for an urgent cessation of violence in Sudan, and resumption of dialogue,” he said.

Earlier, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell tweeted that the security of diplomatic premises and staff was a “primary responsibility” of the Sudanese authorities.

EU spokeswoman Nabila Massrali told AFP news agency the EU delegation had not been evacuated from Khartoum following the attack. Staff security was the priority and security measures were being assessed, she added.