BEVERLY HILLS, MAY 10, (THEWILL) – A Nigerian diplomat was found dead in his home in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Thursday, two security sources said, in an apparent murder that police said did not appear to be politically motivated.
Police spokesman Omar al-Mokhtar according to a Reuters report said the unidentified diplomat, who had been working in the immigration section of the Nigerian Embassy, was stabbed to death and police had ruled out the possibility it was a terrorist attack.
Mokhtar said police had arrested several suspects, but provided no further details.
But the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Nigeria in a brief note obtained by THEWILL confirmed the development and identified the victim as the Nigerian Immigration attache, Habibu Almu.
Spokesperson of the ministry, Tope Elias-Fatile said: “The Ministry has received the sad news of the untimely death of the Immigration Attache in our Mission in Khartoum, Sudan.
“We are awaiting further and detailed report from the Mission after which a statement would be issued,” Elias-Fatile said.
al-Arabiya television of Dubai in its report described his death as an “assassination.”
al-Arabiya television identified the deceased diplomat as the consul general.
Reports on social media suggested that the killers used a knife in the attack.
Though intermittent violence is common in Sudan’s warring southern and western regions, violence in the capital is rare.
Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir has, in recent months, shaken up the security establishment, replacing the heads of the army and intelligence service in February.
