KHARTOUM (Reuters) – Fighting between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) intensified for the first time in months across most of the capital’s three cities in Khartoum, Khartoum North and Omdurman.
The battles in the capital Khartoum included Muqrin, the General Command of the Army, and the armored corps in the Al-Shajara area, south of Khartoum, in addition to the areas of Al-Kadro and Al-Halfaya, north of Khartoum North.
Witnesses and military sources told Reuters that Sudan’s military launched artillery and air strikes in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Thursday in its biggest operation to retake territory there since the start of the 17-month war between it and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The offensive by the armed forces, which lost control of much of the capital at the start of the conflict, came ahead of a speech by its commander, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, to the United Nations General Assembly in New York later in the day.
Witnesses said heavy shelling and clashes erupted when army forces tried to cross bridges over the Nile linking the three neighbouring cities that make up the greater capital area of Khartoum, Omdurman and Bahri.
One resident, Ahmed Abdullah, 48, told Reuters by phone: “The army is carrying out heavy artillery shelling and aerial bombardment on Halfaya and Shambat, and the planes are flying heavily, the sounds of explosions are very loud, especially in the farm areas surrounding the Halfaya bridge from a sea side.”
Videos showed black smoke rising overhead, amid the sounds of battle in the background.
“Our forces are fighting fiercely with the rebel militia inside Khartoum,” a military source told AFP, noting that army forces crossed two main bridges over the Nile River separating parts of the capital under army control and those under the control of the Rapid Support Forces.
Several Omdurman residents reported “intense artillery shelling” that began early Thursday, with bombs falling on residential buildings while military warplanes flew overhead.
Battles erupted in Sudan in mid-April 2023 between the army led by Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces led by his former deputy, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti.
In the last major offensive in February, the army retook some territory in Omdurman, but relies mostly on artillery and airstrikes, and has been unable to drive the more efficient RSF on the ground from other areas of the capital.
There has been no official statement from the army or the RSF about the clashes, but according to their media platforms, hundreds of soldiers have been killed or wounded.
Pro-Sudanese army accounts on social media posted videos showing army soldiers advancing across the White Nile Bridge linking the cities of Omdurman and Khartoum.
Other videos showed Sudanese army soldiers talking about their advance across the Halfaya Bridge towards Khartoum North.
The army retook some territory in Omdurman earlier this year, but relies mostly on artillery and airstrikes, and has been unable to drive the more efficient Rapid Support Forces on the ground from other parts of the capital.
The RSF has also continued to make progress in other parts of Sudan in recent months in a conflict that has caused a widespread humanitarian crisis, displaced more than 10 million people and pushed parts of the country into extreme hunger or famine.
Diplomatic efforts by the United States and other powers have stalled as the military refuses to attend talks scheduled for last month in Switzerland.
(Reuters)/Al-Yurae
