At least five senior government officials have been detained by military forces, according to reports.

The country’s main pro-democracy political group, the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), has called on people to take to the streets in response to any apparent coup attempt.

“We urge the masses to go out on the streets and occupy them, close all roads with barricades, stage a general labour strike, and not to cooperate with the putschists and use civil disobedience to confront them,” the group said in a statement.

Internet and mobile phone signal outages have been reported, say SPA officials who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

The arrests come after weeks of rising tensions between Sudan’s civilian and military leaders, including a failed coup attempt in September.

Officials said the detained include industry minister Ibrahim al-Sheikh, information minister Hamza Baloul, Mohammed al-Fiky Suliman, a member of the ruling Sovereign Council, and Faisal Mohammed Saleh, a media adviser to Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.

Ayman Khalid, the governor of the state containing the capital, Khartoum, was also arrested, according to the official Facebook page of his office.

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NetBlocks, a group which monitors disruptions across the internet, said it had seen a “significant disruption” to both fixed-line and mobile internet connections across Sudan with multiple providers.

“Metrics corroborate user reports network disruptions appearing consistent with an internet shutdown,” the advocacy group said.

“The disruption is likely to limit the free flow of information online and news coverage of incidents on the ground.”

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