Sudanese army sources said on Monday that the vanguard of the Armoured Corps has joined with army forces and taken control of Rapid Support Forces (RSF) positions in central Khartoum, tightening the siege on the presidential palace amid intensifying battles between the two sides in the capital.
The army spokesman announced that forces from the Armoured Corps axis have linked up with Sudanese army forces at the General Command axis after capturing the Al-Shaab Teaching Hospital, which was previously held by RSF forces.
Over the past months, clashes between RSF and army forces have intensified in Khartoum after the latter regained control of several areas it had lost at the beginning of the war. The army confirmed that its forces are currently less than one kilometer away from the Republican Palace, which RSF forces seized at the start of the war.
The Khartoum State Ministry of Health reported that 7 people were killed in shelling on Omdurman on Sunday, adding that the number of wounded reached 43. The attack targeted residential areas, hitting civilians inside their homes and children playing football, according to the Khartoum State media office.
RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti) vowed in a video message via Telegram on Saturday that his forces “will not leave the Republican Palace.”
El Basha Tabig, advisor to the RSF commander, said that RSF forces destroyed a unit that infiltrated central Khartoum. The RSF also claimed in a statement that they achieved victories in the Blue Nile State axis.
AFP reported that witnesses saw thick plumes of smoke rising over Khartoum as fighting continued, with gunfire and explosions heard in several areas.
In recent weeks, the RSF’s areas of control have been rapidly shrinking in favor of the army in Khartoum, Al-Jazira, White Nile, North Kordofan, Sennar, and Blue Nile states.
In Al-Obeid city (400 km southwest of Khartoum), two civilians were killed and 15 others wounded due to RSF shelling targeting residential areas on Monday morning, according to a medical source at the city hospital who spoke to AFP.
In Blue Nile State, bordering South Sudan and Ethiopia, clashes erupted between the warring parties. The RSF claimed they “destroyed a large number of vehicles and equipment” belonging to the army and captured elements of the “attacking forces.”
The war, which broke out in April 2023, has killed tens of thousands and displaced more than 12 million people, causing the world’s largest hunger and displacement crisis.
On the humanitarian front, the Sudanese Red Crescent said that the number of displaced people from villages west of Al-Rahad in North Kordofan State has exceeded 10,000 due to ongoing RSF attacks in the area.
In a separate development, authorities in Khartoum State revealed what they described as a mass grave in the Al-Fayha neighborhood in the East Nile area, recently recaptured by the army from RSF forces. The authorities explained that a deep well was turned into a mass grave by RSF forces, where they dumped the bodies of civilians.
