page_title: Kassala
section_title: Current status
hierarchical_section_title: Kassala / Current status
caption_attribution_description: Tomb of al-Hasan al-Mirghani, Khatmiyya tariqa, Kassala, Sudan. Granite domes of the Taka Mountains behind.
context_page_description: Kassala is the capital of the state of Kassala in eastern Sudan. Its 2008 population was recorded to be 419,030. Built on the banks of the Gash River, it is a market town and is famous for its fruit gardens.
  Many of its inhabitants are from the Beni-Amer group, with others being of Hadendawa, Tigre, and Bilen origin in addition to a small group of Rashaida nomads who migrated from Eritrea in the last three decades.
  The town was formerly a railroad hub, however, as of 2006 there was no operational railway station in Kassala and much of the track leading to and from the town has been salvaged or fallen into disrepair. Kassala's location along the main Khartoum-Port Sudan highway makes it an important trade center.
context_section_description: The Kassala region had a child mortality rate of 62 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2014, slightly higher than the national average of 52 child deaths per 1,000.
  The city is home to Kassala University, a public university established in 1990 to replace the East University, and an important institution for development in the east of Sudan.
  The Khatmiyya Mosque, build in 1840 by the Ottomans and damaged during the Mahdist War, is the city's most important cultural site.  It is an important site for the Sufi Khatmiyya order.
caption: The Khatmiyya Mosque and Khatmiyya Hasan tomb
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