© Ashraf Shazly/AFP/Getty ImagesProtesters block a road with burning tyres and paving stones in Khartoum on Monday.
Heavily armed paramilitaries attacked the site of a sit-in in the capital that has been the centre of a campaign to bring democratic reform shortly after dawn on Monday, firing teargas and live ammunition.
Witnesses reported that the security personnel belonged to the feared Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary force that was heavily armed by Omar al-Bashir, the former president.
Bashir's repressive 30-year rule ended in April when he was ousted by the army following months of massive pro-democracy demonstrations in Khartoum and elsewhere.
Factions within the military appear to have decided to put an end to the pro-reform protests after months of negotiations with civilian leaders and activists for transition to democracy. Tensions have been building in recent days, with senior military officers threatening to clear "criminals" off the streets.
"This is a critical point in our revolution. The military council has chosen escalation and confrontation ... Now the situation is us or them, there is no other way," said Mohammed Yousef al-Mustafa, a spokesman for the Sudanese Professionals' Association, which has spearheaded the protests.
A medical association said that at least 13 people had been killed, but activists say the true number is likely to be much higher with bodies still unrecovered from the protest site attacked in the early morning.
There are also claims that many bodies were thrown into the river Nile by security forces.
Hospitals in central Khartoum struggled to cope with the numbers of injured and appealed for surgeons to volunteer to help.
"Wounded people are lying on the ground in the reception area as there are not enough beds," sad Azza al-Amel, a doctor at the Royal Care hospital.
The RSF have been accused of systematic human rights abuses. They are led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, who also serves as deputy head of the transitional military council, the country's governing committee.
During the afternoon, the RSF were reported to have taken up positions throughout Khartoum and the neighbouring city Omdurman, beating traders and other civilians.
Doctors said the RSF had also entered hospitals, firing weapons, beating medical staff and injuring protesters.
The news of the crackdown sparked sporadic unrest around Khartoum. Hundreds of protesters were reported to have blocked roads with stones and burning tyres in Omdurman, the twin city neighbouring the Sudanese capital.
Smoke was seen rising from several locations in Khartoum and at least one bridge across the Nile was reported to have been blocked by burning tyres.
Sudan has been ruled by a military committee since the fall of the dictator Bashir in April.
"The protesters holding a sit-in in front of the army general command are facing a massacre in a treacherous attempt to disperse the protest," said the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), the group that spearheaded nationwide protests that started in December.
Live images broadcast by Arab television stations showed tents used by the protesters on fire, as other demonstrators ran away from the scene.
In footage on social media, bloodied protesters could be seen on the ground as vehicles manned by armed men in uniforms drove at speed through the streets. Several video clips showed groups of RSF fighters beating and shooting at civilians, including traders.
A witness living in the Burri neighbourhood in east Khartoum said he could "hear the sound of gunfire and I see a plume of smoke rising from the area of the sit-in".
People in Omdurman reported extensive shooting in the streets of the city. There were also reports of security forces breaking up demonstrations elsewhere in Sudan, though it was unclear if there had been casualties.
Foreign journalists in Khartoum said they were being confined to a hotel by unidentified security personnel.
In response to the attack, the SPA called on Sudanese people to take part in "total civil disobedience" to topple the military council and for people for take to the streets to protest.
The Sudanese Air Pilots Association was reported to have decided to support the call, which could severely affect flights to Khartoum. Other professional bodies also said they would strike in protest at fresh outbreaks of violence.
"There is no transportation, all the streets are blocked by protesters responding to the SPA's call ... Tyres are burning," said one resident of Omdurman.
Moussa Faki Mahamat, the chair of the African Union, said he strongly condemned the violence and called on "the transitional military council to protect the civilians from further harm".
It is unclear if the regular military had backed the crackdown, raising the prospect of a dangerous split within security forces.
Experts have previously warned of a "nightmare scenario" in which infighting among militia and soldiers leads to a complete collapse of the state.
Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who is the interim leader of Sudan, visited Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates following the breakdown of talks with representatives of the pro-democracy coalition last month.
Though consensus on the broad outlines of a deal to install a civilian government had been reached, protracted negotiations between a coalition of pro-reform groups and the military have foundered on the question of who would dominate the top decision-making body during an interim period.
The pro-reform groups feared the military would not hand over power at the end of the supposed transition.
Egypt called on both the military and protesters to exercise restraint.
Ifran Siddiq, the British ambassador in Sudan, said he was extremely concerned by the heavy gunfire he had heard from his official home in Khartoum and the reports that Sudanese security forces were attacking the protest sit-in site. "[There is] no excuse for any such attack," he said on Twitter.
The military rulers of Sudan were responsible for the crackdown, the US embassy in Khartoum said. "Sudanese security forces' attacks against protesters and other civilians are wrong and must stop," it said.
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