Spanish diplomat stabbed to death at home in Sudanese capital

KHARTOUM — A Spanish diplomat was found stabbed to death in his home in Sudan's capital Khartoum on Monday, Sudanese police said.

The 61-year-old official headed the Spanish embassy's visa section and had worked in the country for three years, a police statement said.

A diplomatic source in Spain confirmed the death, telling Reuters: "Local authorities have opened a police investigation at the highest level."

The diplomat lived in Khartoum's affluent Garden City suburb, police said.

Attacks on foreigners are rare in the desert city situated at the meeting point of the Blue and White Niles.

In 2008 John Granville, an officer with the US Agency for International Development, became the first US government official to be killed in Khartoum in more than three decades. He and his Sudanese driver were shot dead by Islamists while returning home from New Year celebrations on January 1.