Paramilitarians are striking Port Sudan for the first time, says Army says

A drone attack launched by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) hit a military airport in the city of Port Sudan on Sunday, according to the Sudanese army.

It marks the first time that RSF attacks have reached the city-de de-Facto capital of Sudan’s soldiers led Government – Since the conflict between the warring factions broke out two years ago.

Spokesperson Nabil Abdullah, spokesperson for the Sudanese army, said that the RSF had launched various “suicide drones” in the port of the East Red Sea, aimed at the Osman Digna Air Base, “a goods warehouse and some civil facilities”.

He said that no injuries had been reported, but the attack had caused “limited damage”. The RSF has not commented on the incident.

In a conflict in April 2023, Sudan collapsed when a vicious struggle broke out between the Sudanese forces (SAF) and RSF, a powerful paramilitary group, prior to a planned transition to civil rule.

It is estimated that at least 150,000 people died in the subsequent civil war, forced to flee their homes.

The United Nations have described the situation in Sudan as the world’s largest and most devastating humanitarian crisis, with more than 30 million people who need help and Millions confronted with acute food shortages and famine.

Prior to the attacks on Sunday, Port Sudan had avoided bombing and was considered one of the safest places in the war destroyed by war.

After the SAF asked in the war in the war, Port Sudan lost control of the capital, Port Sudan became the actual headquarters for the military government that was helped by General Abdel Fattah-Al Burhan.

UN agencies moved their offices and staff to the coastal city and hundreds of thousands of displaced citizens fled there during the war.

“We were on our way to the plane when we were quickly evacuated and removed from the terminal,” a traveler told AFP News Agency after the strikes on Sunday.

Video images on social media, which the BBC is not independently verified, seem to show an explosion and huge plums of black smoke in the air.

The airport is closed and all bensed flights, a government source told the AFP News Agency.

The two -year conflict has divided the nation into rival zones.

The RSF, led by General Mohamed Hamdan Dag Alo – known as Hemedti – controls most of the vast Darfur region in West -Sudan and parts of the south.

The militarily supported government controls Eastern and North Sudan, including the most important city of Red Sea Port Sudan.

Sunday’s strike is the last one in a series of RSF drone attacks on military and civilian infrastructure in the field of the army. On Saturday, an army source reported a drone attack on Kassala, on the eastern border of Sudan, about 250 miles (400k) of the nearest RSF position.

The SAF has taken back the trips of the territory in recent months, including Regaining control of the presidential palace in Khartoem In March.

Taking the capital was seen as a turning point in the two -year civil war, but although the SAF currently has Momentum, it is unlikely that both parties can achieve a victory that will enable them to rule the whole of Sudan, according to a report from the International Crisis Group.

This is Sudan’s third civil war in 70 years, but is considered worse than the others, by tearing the core of the country and hardening departments.

After a coup in 2021, a Council of General Sudan ran – led by the two men in the center of the current conflict.

Al-Burhan was head of the armed forces of Sudan and in fact the president of the country, while Hemedti was his deputy and leader of the RSF.

The couple did not agree about the direction in which the country went in and the proposed switch to the civilian government – in particular plans to absorb the 100,000 RSF in the army.

Tensions between the army and the RSF grew like a deadline for forming a civilian government before the fluid between the two parties started to control the Sudanese state.

International efforts to come up with peace have failed and both parties are supported by foreign powers that have poured weapons in the country.