For the first time since the onset of the war between the Sudanese Army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the conflict has reached a city in the Northern State.
Suicide drones targeted a military base in Shendi, a city in northern Sudan, where ground defences managed to intercept and down three of these drones. The RSF has not claimed responsibility for the attack.
No official comment has been released by the army concerning the attacks, which represent a significant breach into areas under its control and influence in the north of the country.
Witnesses reported seeing flames from one of the drones flying near the Third Infantry Division, although a source within the Sudanese Army confirmed the incident to the Arab World News Agency.
The source stated that an unidentified drone bombed the army’s headquarters in Shendi, located in the Nile River State (North).
He added that the suicide drone struck a part of the airfield at the Third Infantry Division, the army’s headquarters in Shendi.
The strike, he confirmed, did not result in any damage to the airfield or the division’s administration.
This marks the first time that Shendi has experienced a military attack; the city had remained outside the fighting that has been ongoing since mid-April last year.
Journalists in the city reported, “The attack targeted the military airport within the division, with the first drone falling near a warehouse, and the second and third being shot down by anti-air defences from the southwest side of the division’s headquarters.”
This development raises concerns about the potential expansion of the conflict zone and the implications for regional stability in Sudan.
In previous remarks, a senior advisor to the RSF, Pasha Tabaq, told Al-Hurra that the drone bombings were orchestrated by army leaders intending to eliminate the old regime’s battalions allied with the army.
