Attacker Kills Two Soldiers Guarding Sudan's Presidential Palace.......

KHARTOUM, SUDAN:  An attacker with a knife killed two soldiers guarding a gate at Sudan's presidential palace before other troops shot him dead on Saturday, the president's press secretary said.

President Omar Hassan al-Bashir was not in Khartoum's Republican Palace at the time, press secretary Emad Ahmed told Reuters.

"A little while ago someone attacked soldiers who guarded one of the gates of the palace," Ahmed said. "(He) did not respond to calls to stop and was shot dead. Two soldiers were killed during the attack by someone who seemed to be suffering from a mental illness," he added. Army spokesman Colonel Al-Sawarmi Khalid later said the assailant, a man named Salah Haroun, stabbed one of the soldiers, took his gun, then shot a second soldier with that weapon. "We emphasize that the situation has been completely contained ... The situation at the presidential palace has returned to normal," Khalid added. Bashir, 70, was at his official residence in another part of Khartoum at the time of the attack, the press secretary said.