Violent Clashes and Fires Engulf Sudanese Capital

On Sunday, flames engulfed the Sudanese capital, and paramilitary forces launched an attack on the army headquarters for the second consecutive day, according to witnesses. The ongoing conflict has now extended into its sixth month.

AFP reported that witnesses in Khartoum mentioned, "Clashes are now happening around the army headquarters with various types of weapons," while others reported fighting in the city of El-Obeid, located 350 kilometers to the south.

The clashes between the regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) intensified on Saturday, resulting in several key buildings in central Khartoum being set ablaze.

Verified social media posts shared by AFP users displayed footage of flames consuming iconic landmarks in the Khartoum skyline, including the Greater Nile Petroleum Oil Company Tower—a conical building with glass facades that had become a symbol of the city. The posts depicted a devastated Khartoum with buildings, their windows shattered and walls charred or marked by bullets, continuing to smolder.

Since the conflict erupted on April 15 between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, an estimated 7,500 individuals have lost their lives, as per a conservative estimate from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.

The conflict has displaced more than five million people, including 2.8 million who have fled the relentless air strikes, artillery fire, and street battles in Khartoum's densely-populated neighborhoods.

Residents in the city awoke on Sunday to find the skyline obscured by clouds of smoke, accompanied by the sound of bombs and gunfire reverberating through the capital. Witnesses from the Mayo district of southern Khartoum reported hearing "huge bangs" as the army targeted RSF bases with artillery fire.

Last week, at least 51 people lost their lives in air strikes on a market in Mayo, according to the United Nations, marking one of the deadliest single attacks of the conflict.

The most severe violence has been concentrated in Khartoum and the western region of Darfur, where ethnically-motivated attacks by the RSF and allied militias have prompted renewed investigations by the International Criminal Court into possible war crimes.

Reports on Sunday once again cited artillery fire exchanged between the army and the RSF in the city of El-Obeid, located in the southern Kordofan region.

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