Ahmed Kamel – Egypt Daily News
Two Egyptian truck drivers were killed and a third wounded when an armed man opened fire on a group of Egyptian drivers in Khartoum. Sudanese authorities arrested a suspect, while the injured driver underwent surgery and was reported in stable condition on Tuesday, October 13.
The shooting took place in a local market south of the Sudanese capital, according to Sudanese police. The injured man was taken to the Military Medical Corps hospital in Omdurman for treatment. Police said they had seized the weapon and begun legal proceedings, while investigators continued to establish the circumstances and motive.
Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said it was following the case closely. Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty instructed Egypt’s ambassador to Sudan to contact local authorities, check on the injured man and arrange for the deceased drivers’ bodies to be returned to Egypt. Ambassador Yasser Sorour visited the survivor. Egyptian officials said his operation was successful and that he was awaiting medical clearance before travelling home.
Sudanese police described the shooting as an individual criminal incident and urged the public not to spread unverified claims, saying people should rely on official police statements. The suspect’s arrest has not established the motive: authorities said their investigation remained underway.
The attack occurred amid heightened tensions following reports of deadly air strikes on gold-mining sites near the Egypt-Sudan border. Sudanese rights groups and media reports have offered sharply different casualty figures. One account attributed to the Emergency Lawyers group put the death toll at 72, while another report cited a claim of at least 200 people killed. These figures have not been independently confirmed, and responsibility for the reported air strikes remains disputed.
The allegations have added a sensitive diplomatic backdrop to the investigation in Khartoum. Sudan’s transitional Sovereignty Council chief, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, ordered a fact-finding committee into the deaths of miners near the border. He said the two countries’ leaderships were in contact to clarify what happened and make the facts public.
Egypt’s military, meanwhile, said it was continuing a campaign against illegal gold prospecting in the Eastern Desert. The military described the effort as aimed at confronting criminal activity and protecting national resources.
Egyptian officials have cautioned against treating claims linking the Khartoum shooting to the mining-site reports as established fact. A foreign ministry spokesperson said the shooting was still under investigation and that any connection to mining or prospecting remained unverified. The distinction is important: Sudanese police have described the shooting as a criminal incident, while the reported border deaths are the subject of a separate inquiry and competing claims.
The shooting also comes against the wider backdrop of Sudan’s conflict, which began in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The war has displaced millions and disrupted livelihoods. Insecurity and economic hardship have also driven people toward informal gold mining in northern areas, making mining activity near the border a concern for both countries.
For the families of the two drivers, the immediate priorities are the return of their relatives’ bodies and clarity about why the men were attacked. For the survivor, Egyptian officials say recovery and medical clearance must come before his return. Sudanese investigators have yet to publicly establish a motive, and the separate inquiry into the miners’ deaths may shape the political atmosphere in which the shooting is examined.
The two governments have signalled continued communication, but the cases require a careful distinction between confirmed information and allegations. The drivers’ deaths, the arrest of a suspect and the survivor’s surgery have been reported by officials. Claims about the motive and responsibility for the reported border air strikes remain unresolved.
