Two police officers and five prisoners have been killed during a riot in Sudan's main prison when inmates armed with rifles overpowered their guards.
A hunger strike turned violent when more than 60 prisoners began harassing their guards and prevented food from being distributed around the wards.
The Ministry of Interior said the prisoners "turned to vandalism and set prison facilities on fire."
The prison administration called on anti-riot police, which used batons and tear gas to quell the protest, but were met with fire "which led to the immediate death of two officers," the statement said.
Fifty-seven policemen and 23 inmates were injured, some in critical condition. It was not clear how the prisoners gained access to weapons or how many inmates the prison houses.
Witnesses in Khartoum reported seeing smoke billowing out of the prison and could hear the sound of gunfire when the clashes erupted.
The prisoners were demanding the government pay the blood money on behalf of those sentenced to death, a stipulation in the Islamic law that allows those convicted of murder to escape the capital punishment, the ministry said.
Other demands included reducing jail sentences for convicted drug dealers and an amendment to the criminal law relating to financial frauds convictions. The ministry said the hunger strike was meant to "to pressure the ministries of justice and interior into accepting their conditions."
AP