In a significant escalation of internal military conflict, the Sudanese Army reportedly bombarded positions of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Khartoum, the nation’s capital, using heavy artillery and drones. Witnesses informed the Arab World News Agency (AWP) about these developments on Monday.
According to eyewitness accounts, the Army targeted RSF locations early this morning in the Al Souq Al Arabi area, located in central Khartoum. Additional areas, including the neighborhoods of Jabra and Al Sahafa near the Armored Corps, experienced intense shelling.
Witnesses also reported seeing thick smoke columns rising from the Al Azhari and Al Nahda districts, adjacent to the military campgrounds and the RSF-controlled sports city in South Khartoum. Similar observations were made in the East Nile area of Khartoum Bahri.
In Omdurman, forming the Greater Khartoum with Khartoum and Bahri, a tense calm prevails amidst ongoing hardships faced by residents due to over a week-long water supply disruption and deteriorating telecommunications and internet services.
Nadia Younis, a resident of the Al Thawra suburb in North Omdurman, spoke to AWP about the struggles to access water from operational wells in some neighborhoods.
The crisis worsened as two major water treatment stations ceased operations due to a lack of chlorine solutions necessary for water purification. Ahmed Osman Hamza, the Governor of Khartoum State, visited several areas in the Karari locality yesterday to assess the water scarcity crisis.
In Wad Madani, the capital of the Al Jazirah state in central Sudan, the city’s resistance committees accused the RSF of looting and stealing cars from residences throughout the city. They also reported ongoing thefts in markets, stores, and homes, allegedly facilitated by the RSF.
While the RSF has consistently denied involvement in these violations, blaming rogue elements from the former regime and military intelligence, the Wad Madani resistance committees highlighted numerous injuries and fatalities among civilians due to random aerial bombardment by the Sudanese Air Force. The attacks reportedly made no distinction between military and civilian targets.
Hospitals, health centers, and pharmacies in Wad Madani and nearby rural areas are reportedly out of service and looted.
The RSF has tightened its control over four of the five states in the Darfur region, including army barracks and headquarters, and has extended its influence over vast areas of Khartoum and the Kordofan region.
The conflict between the Sudanese Army and the RSF erupted suddenly in mid-April following weeks of tension between the two sides, just as military and civilian parties were finalizing a globally supported political process.
