KHARTOUM, 2 January 2007 — A US diplomat and his embassy driver were killed in a predawn shooting attack in the Sudanese capital Khartoum yesterday but the authorities insisted it was not a terrorist attack. “Early this morning, an American officer with the United States Agency for International Development was shot and wounded,” the US Embassy said in a statement.
“A locally employed Sudanese national was killed in the same incident. This afternoon, the American officer succumbed to his injuries and passed away. We are working closely with local authorities to investigate the incident.” It was not immediately clear if it was a targeted attack against the USAID official or a random criminal shooting.
Sudan’s Foreign Ministry, however, insisted the attack was “an isolated incident which has no political connotations.” The Interior Ministry said the diplomatic car had been caught in a fight, which broke out as some Sudanese nationals were on the street celebrating the New Year.
An anonymous official quoted by the Sudanese Media Center, which is close to the intelligence services, said there was “no evidence of an organized terrorist act.” Relations between Sudan and the United States have long been strained, most recently over the near five-year conflict in the western region of Darfur where Washington has accused Khartoum of genocide.
In September, the US Embassy issued a travel warning alerting its citizens that the government had received indications of terrorist threats aimed at American and Western interests in Sudan. Sudan’s Interior Ministry said the embassy vehicle was fired on by unidentified gunmen in another car at 3:57 a.m. (0057 GMT) as it drove through the residential area of Ryad in western Khartoum.
The Sudanese driver, identified as Abdel Rahman Abbas, 40, was killed instantly in a hail of gunfire, it said. “The occupants of the vehicle opened fire on the side of the driver who was killed instantly while the other passenger was shot five times in the hand, right shoulder and stomach,” it said.
The US official was identified as 33 year-old John Michael Granfield — according to a transliteration from Arabic. However there was no confirmation of his name from the US Embassy. The Interior Ministry said it was launching in investigation to find the culprits and the motivation behind the shooting.
