Sudanese troops deploy around army HQ

KHARTOUM - Sudan's army Monday deployed troops around its headquarters in Khartoum and blocked several roads leading to the complex, where protesters have massed demanding President Omar al-Bashir resign, witnesses said.

Witnesses said soldiers were putting up barricades in streets near the compound, where thousands of protesters have been demonstrating outside since Saturday urging the army to back them.

Since protests erupted across Sudan in December security agents and riot police have cracked down on demonstrators, but the army has so far not intervened.