KHARTOUM: Sudan’s paramilitary group claimed it had seized the country’s presidential palace, the Chief of Army Staff’s house and Khartoum international airport on Saturday in an apparent coup attempt but the military officials said it was fighting back.
Political unrest in Sudan
The Rapid Support Forces, which accused the country’s army of attacking their forces first, also claimed they took airports in El-Obeid and Merowe.
The Sudanese Doctors’ Union said that as many as 25 people were killed and 183 others wounded in the clashes in the city. Reuters reported that the group was not able to determine if all deaths were civilians.
The source said that the two persons were killed at Khartoum airport, 4 in Omdurman, 8 in Nyala, 6 in El Obeid and 5 in El Fasher.
The condition on the ground was not clear due to current political unrest in the country. The army added it was fighting the Rapid Support Forces in certain areas. The army officials said it had taken some bases of RSF and rejected that the Rapid Support Forces had taken Merowe airport.
A confrontation between the army and the RSF could plunge the African country into widespread crisis as it struggles with economic crisis and violence, and could also disrupt efforts to move toward polls.
The clashes between the parties follow high tensions between the RSF and the army over the integration of the paramilitary forces into the army. The disagreement has also delayed the inking of internationally-sponsored deal with parties on a transition to the process of democracy.
On Saturday, the RSF alleged the army of conducting a plot by loyalists of former President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir — who was deposed in 2019 — and trying for a coup itself.
Reports said that the RSF is headed by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo and he has been deputy chief of Sudan’s ruling Sovereign Council headed by General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan since 2019.
The army told the media that air force of Sudan was also conducting strikes against the RSF forces in the area. Footage of TV showed smoke rising over several parts of Khartoum.
