Air raid kills 17 in Sudan’s capital Khartoum

The attack is one of the deadliest in the urban areas of Khartoum between the military and the RSF paramilitary group.

An air attack in Sudan’s capital Khartoum has killed at least 17 people, including five children, as fighting continues between rival generals seeking to control the country.

The attack on Saturday was one of the deadliest of the clashes in urban areas of Khartoum and elsewhere in Sudan between the military and a powerful paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The bombing hit the Yarmouk neighbourhood in southern Khartoum, where clashes have centred in recent weeks, according to Sudan’s health ministry. The area houses a military facility controlled by the army.

A number of civilian casualties were taken to the Bashair Hospital, the ministry said in a Facebook post, and at least 25 houses were destroyed.

The dead included five children and an unknown number of women and elderly people, the ministry added, referring to the Yarmouk attack as a “massacre”.

It was not clear whether the attack was by aircraft or a drone. The military’s aircraft have repeatedly targeted RSF troops, while the paramilitary force has reportedly used drones and anti-aircraft weapons against army positions.

The conflict in Sudan broke out in mid-April, capping months of increasing tensions between Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, the respective leaders of the military and the RSF, after the two fell out in a power struggle.

A local group that calls itself The Emergency Room and helps organise humanitarian aid in the area, said at least 11 people were wounded in the raid. It posted images it said were of houses damaged in the attack and people searching through rubble. Other images claimed to show a wounded girl and man.

In a statement, the RSF alleged the military’s aircraft bombed the area, killing and wounded civilians. It also claimed it downed a military MiG fighter jet, but that could not be independently verified.

A military spokesman did not respond to messages seeking comment.

In a video published on Friday on the army’s Facebook page, deputy army chief Yasser Atta warned civilians to keep away from houses where the RSF are located because the military “will attack them at any time.”

Worsening fighting

The conflict that began in mid-April has plunged the country into chaos and turned Khartoum and other urban areas into battlefields. The paramilitary force has occupied people’s houses and other civilian properties since the onset of the fighting, according to residents and activists.

The clashes have killed hundreds of civilians and wounded thousands of others. More than 2.2 million people have fled their homes to safer areas inside Sudan or crossed into neighbouring countries.

Along with Khartoum, fighting has raged in Darfur, a sprawling area in western Sudan. El-Geneina, the provincial capital of West Darfur province, has experienced some of the worst battles in the conflict, with tens of thousands of its residents fleeing to neighbouring Chad.

Arab militias have recently joined the clashes in el-Geneina on the side of the RSF, according to residents and activists.

On Wednesday, West Darfur Governor Khamis Abdalla Abkar was abducted and killed hours after he accused the RSF and allied militias in a televised interview of attacking el-Geneina.

His murder has been blamed on the RSF, a charge the paramilitary force has denied.

A record 25 million people – more than half the population – are in need of aid and protection, according to the United Nations, which said it has received only a fraction of the necessary funding.

Saudi Arabia has announced an international pledging conference for Monday in Geneva.