Witnesses reported that flames engulfed western Khartoum on Sunday, and for the second consecutive day, Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces launched an attack on the army headquarters, as the deadly conflict enters its six-month.
“Clashes are now happening around the army headquarters with various types of weapons,” witnesses told media on Sunday, while additional reports indicated ongoing clashes in the city of El-Obeid, located approximately 350 kilometers (about 220 miles) to the south.
On Saturday, clashes escalated between the regular army and the Rapid Support Forces, leading to several key buildings in central Khartoum being set alight.
Social media posts featured footage shared by users showing the Khartoum skyline’s iconic landmarks engulfed in flames, including the Greater Nile Petroleum Oil Company Tower, a distinctive conical building with glass facades that had become a symbol of the city.
As the RSF has deployed in suburban areas in Khartoum, as well as neighbouring Bahri and Omdurman, the army has leveraged its superiority in heavy artillery and airstrikes to attempt to push them back, the indiscriminate bombing by the armed forces have led to hundreds of civilian casualties.
Since the outbreak of conflict on April 15 between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, an estimated nearly 7,500 individuals have lost their lives, as per a conservative assessment by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project.
The conflict has resulted in the displacement of over five million individuals, including 2.8 million who have fled due to ongoing indiscriminate army airstrikes, artillery fire, and street battles in Khartoum’s densely-populated neighbourhood’s.
The millions still residing in the city awoke on Sunday to a skyline obscured by clouds of smoke, accompanied by the sounds of bombs and gunfire echoing throughout the capital as RSF is attempting to dislodge the last remaining army forces in the capital.
Witnesses from the Mayo district in southern Khartoum informed media on Sunday that they could hear significant explosions as the sides exchanged artillery fire.
The United Nations reported that last week, at least 51 civilians lost their lives in an army airstrike on a market in Mayo, marking one of the most deadly single attacks during the conflict.
On Monday and Tuesday bombings and airstrikes by the army targeted marketplaces and residential areas in the capital Khartoum, Bahri, Omdurman and resulted in at least 75 civilian casualties while leaving hundreds more injured.
Fighting has also erupted in the southern Kordofan region, with witnesses once again reporting on Sunday the exchange of artillery fire between the army and the RSF in the city of El-Obeid.
According to the United Nations, since April, approximately 380,000 refugees, predominantly women and children, have sought refuge in Chad due to the conflict. Furthermore, hundreds of thousands have also fled to countries including the Central African Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia, and South Sudan.
