Man Kills 2 Guards at Sudan Presidential Palace

A sword-wielding man described as "insane" killed two Sudanese soldiers on Saturday before being shot dead as he tried to enter the palace where President Omar al-Bashir has his offices.

The attacker refused to stop at the presidential palace's western gate before seizing a gun from one of the guards, killing two of them and being shot dead himself, presidential press secretary Emad Sidahmed told Agence France-Presse.

Bashir and his ministers were not in the palace at the time of the attack, Sidahmed said. 

The president, who took power in a 1989 Islamist-backed coup, has a separate residence near the military headquarters in Khartoum.

Sidahmed said that the security forces had already started to investigate the attack.

Army spokesman Colonel al-Sawarmy Khaled Saad said the attacker, whom he described as "insane", arrived at the gate with a sword, which he used to stab one guard.

The man then grabbed a gun, shooting the wounded guard dead and killing another before other soldiers opened fire on him, Saad said.

In a statement, Saad named the attacker as Salah Kafi Quwa, and said he was originally from the town of Kadugli in South Kordofan state, where insurgents are battling the Khartoum government.

The president's office suggested that the attacker was mentally ill in a separate statement, but gave no further details.

Last month Bashir's National Congress Party said the 70-year-old, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes in Darfur, would stand for re-election in 2015.

Witnesses near the palace said they had heard shooting coming from the palace around 12.30 pm (0930 GMT).

A lawyer whose offices are 200 meters (yards) from the palace said the gunfire was so loud that he had ducked for cover.

"I heard shooting coming from the direction of the palace and I hid under my office table," he said, asking not to be named.

"After it stopped I saw armed soldiers at the south gate of the palace and also police vehicles arrive nearby."

A shopkeeper on a street south of the presidential offices said he had shut his business when he heard the shooting.

"I closed my shop and tried to hide away, and the shooting continued for 15 minutes," he said.

Calm later returned to the streets around the palace after the incident, an AFP correspondent reported.

Extra soldiers carrying assault rifles were posted at one of the gates, and police had closed off one of the roads leading to the building with two vehicles.