Egypt’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Monday, saying that the administrative attache at its embassy in Sudan was killed amid fighting between rival military factions in Khartoum. The foreign ministry added that Muhammad El Gharrawi was killed as he was driving to the embassy to follow up on the procedures of the evacuations of the Egyptians stranded in Sudan. Taking to Twitter, foreign ministry spokesperson Ahmed Abu Zeid condoled El Gharrawi’s death.

“The deceased (Muhammad El Gharrawi) was martyred on his way to the embassy headquarters to follow up on the tasks of evacuating the Egyptian citizens. May God have mercy on our dear deceased,” Zeid tweeted early Tuesday.

According to a report by the news agency Reuters, the Sudanese army had earlier stated Egypt’s assistant military attache was killed. The army then, corrected its statement, saying the administrative attache was killed by fire from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Two days back, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry instructed citizens in Sudan to evacuate the conflict-torn country. A report by Egyptian Streets on Sunday said the ministry instructed citizens outside Sudan’s capital Khartoum to head to the nearest specified meeting point in preparation for their evacuation.

For Egyptians in Khartoum, the ministry advised them to stay indoors until the security situation improved to allow for the procedure in line with the general evacuation plan.

Several countries including Italy, Japan, and Greece started evacuating their citizens amid the eruption of violence in Sudan on April 15. According to agencies of the United Nations, over 400 people have been killed and more than 3,700 wounded so far. And more than 4,000 people have fled Sudan in foreign-organised evacuations.

The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and RSF agreed to a 72-hour ceasefire starting Tuesday. The SAF said that the United States and Saudi Arabia mediated the truce.

The RSF confirmed that it agreed to the ceasefire to facilitate humanitarian efforts. “We affirm our commitment to a complete ceasefire during the truce period”, the RSF said.

“This ceasefire aims to establish humanitarian corridors, allowing citizens and residents to access essential resources, healthcare, and safe zones, while also evacuating diplomatic missions,” it tweeted.

The SAF, meanwhile, said on Facebook that it would abide by the ceasefire on condition its rivals did so.