Khartoum, Jan 14 (IANS): A high-ranking Sudanese police officer was killed during fresh protests in capital Khartoum demanding a civilian rule in the country.

"Acting Interior Minister and the Police's Director General eulogise the death of Brigadier General Ali Barima Hammad, who died while performing his duty to protect the demonstrators near Stack Medical Laboratory," the press office of the Sudanese police said in a statement.

The police did not reveal the circumstances which led to the death of the senior police officer, but the new casualty might mark an escalation of confrontations between protesters and security forces.

Sudanese protesters took to the streets again on Thursday in the capital Khartoum and other cities in new and increasingly regular demonstrations to demand civilian rule.

Protesters gathered in central Khartoum and tried to reach the presidential palace, witnesses told Xinhua.

Crowds of demonstrators in Omdurman also headed towards Al-Arbaeen Street, a vital street leading to a bridge linking Omdurman and Khartoum, they added.

Khartoum State's Police issued a statement earlier on Thursday announcing partial closure to some bridges linking the major cities of Khartoum, Omdurman, and Bahri.

Military units have been deployed at the entrances of most of the bridges and on the internal roads to the presidential palace and the army's general command headquarters.

Sudan has been suffering a political crisis after the general commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan declared a coup on October 25, 2021 and dissolved the Sovereign Council and the government.