Spanish diplomat found stabbed to death in Sudan

Sudan's ministry of foreign affairs announced Monday that a Spanish diplomat was found stabbed to death in Khartoum.

The victim, identified as Emiliano Garcia, was in charge of the consular section at the Spanish embassy in Khartoum.

He "has been found stabbed to death in his apartment in the Garden City neighbourhood in central Khartoum", said the ministry in a statement, a copy of which was obtained by Xinhua.

The ministry said that police and criminal investigation teams were looking into the killing, saying the government was firmly committed to protecting all foreign diplomats in Sudan.

The incident brings to mind the killing of US diplomat John Granville, a staff of the USAID, in Khartoum in January 2008.

A group named Ansar Al-Tawhid had claimed responsibility for the murder of Granville and his Sudanese driver.

A Sudanese court later sentenced to death four Sudanese nationals who were accused of killing the US diplomat but the convicts managed to escape the country before the death penalty was enforced.