The prominent Sudanese opposition leader, Hassan al-Turabi, has died at 84 in Khartoum.

He had suffered a heart attack, AFP reported.

Mr Turabi was a key ally of Mr Bashir when he took power in a coup in 1989 but they fell out a decade later.

Born in Kassala in eastern Sudan, Mr Turabi moved to Khartoum to study law before completing his studies in London and Paris.

He joined Sudan’s Muslim Brotherhood and rose to national prominence in the 1964 revolution which overthrew General Ibrahim Abboud.

A widely read man with a high-pitched giggle, Mr Turabi was famous for his comprehensive – some would say rambling – interviews, BBC’s correspondent James Copnall says.

Mr Turabi advocated the rights of women and democracy within Islam, and saw himself as a moderate reformer – but he presided over perhaps the most brutal period in Sudan’s history, he adds.