KHARTOUM, Sudan, Aug. 2 (UPI) -- Officials said 36 people died in violence following confirmation thaat Sudan Vice President and former rebel leader John Garang was killed in a plane crash.
The Interior Ministry said late Monday that at least 36 people were killed and more than 200 others injured in riots in several of Sudan's cities. Unconfirmed sources put the death toll at about 90.
Deputy police chief Maj. Gen. Sayyed Hussein Othman said Tuesday that calm was restored to most areas.
Tension also eased in the southern town of Juba where residents from northern Sudan have been attacked and their properties ransacked in reaction to the death of Garang, whose Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement, SPLA/M, fought for independence of mainly-Christian and Animist south Sudan for more than two decades.
The Sudanese government has formed a committee to investigate the crash of the Ugandan presidential helicopter that was carrying Garang from Uganda to southern Sudan. Official reports said the crash against high mountains in south Sudan was due to bad weather and poor visibility.
