Shocking Moment in Sudan: 40 Bodies Pulled From Nile

Sudan's pro-democracy leaders vowed Thursday to press their campaign of civil disobedience until the ruling military council is ousted and killers of protesters are brought to justice, following a crackdown this week that killed scores of people. The pledge comes after new clashes brought the death toll in three days of the military crackdown to 108. In one of the most shocking moments, troops were seen pulling 40 bodies of victims, slain by Sudanese security forces, from the Nile River in Khartoum and taking them away Wednesday, the AP reports. The Sudan Doctors Committee, one of the protest groups, said it was not known where they were taken. The committee also said more than 500 have been wounded in the crackdown.

The Sudanese Professionals Association, an umbrella of union groups that has been behind months of rallies that forced the military to oust longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir in April, urged people to block main roads and bridges to "paralyze public life" across the country in retaliation for the military's crackdown. The crackdown began with a violent dispersal of the protest movement's main sit-in camp outside the military headquarters in Khartoum on Monday. In Moscow, a top diplomat said Russia—which has largely stayed on the sidelines of the crisis in Sudan—opposes "any foreign intervention" and believes a compromise is needed.

(More Sudan stories.)