At least 26 killed as violence erupts in Sudan

At least 26 people were killed and up to 400 more injured Saturday in Sudan as violent clashes erupted between the country’s armed forces and a paramilitary group battling for control of the troubled nation since 2021.

Explosions, airstrikes and gunfire broke out early in the day in the capital city of Khartoum, and the Sudanese Doctors’ Union said that people were killed in that city’s airport and elsewhere, including Omdurman, Nyala, El Obeid, and El Fasher. It was unclear whether the count included civilian casualties.

Local TV footage showed smoke rising from several districts in Khartoum, while social media users there filmed military jets flying low overhead.

Cannons and armored vehicles were spotted on the capital’s streets.

The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) — Sudan’s largest paramilitary force — claimed its fighters had seized the presidential palace, the army chief’s residence, and the airports in Khartoum, and the northern city of Merowe.

General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan — who heads the council of generals that has controlled Sudan since a military coup 18 months ago — denied the RSF’s claims, the BBC reported.

“We think if [the RSF] are wise they will turn back their troops that came into Khartoum,” Burhan told Al Jazeera TV. “But if it continues we will have to deploy troops into Khartoum from other areas.”

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for an immediate cease-fire.

“I condemn the outbreak of fighting between the Rapid Support Forces & the Sudanese Armed Forces in Sudan,” Guterres tweeted, adding that the UN will “support the people of Sudan in their efforts to restore a democratic transition.”

The 100,000-strong RSF and its leader, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, has been competing with Burhan as Sudan’s fractured political factions negotiate the formation of a transitional government and an eventual democracy.

A draft agreement would see RSF members integrated into the regular army — but Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, has resisted the move.

“We know where you are hiding,” he threatened Burhan in an interview with a local news station. “And we will get to you and hand you over to justice, or you die just like any other dog,” he said.

With Post wires