56 civilians, combatants killed in fight between Sudan army, paramilitary forces

Sudanese authorities have confirmed that 56 civilians and dozens of combatants have been killed in fighting between its regular army and paramilitary forces.

The Central Committee of Sudan Doctors said on Sunday that the clashes across Sudan also and 595 others wounded, after fighting broke out between the country’s military and a government paramilitary force, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), on Friday.

The military statement said government forces launched air strikes on a base belonging to the paramilitary in the city of Omdurman, which adjoins the capital Khartoum in a bid to reassert control over the country after the paramilitary attacked some of its camps and bases in the capital.

Local media reports that in the early hours of Sunday morning, sound of heavy artillery firing were heard across Khartoum, Omdurman and nearby Bahri, and there was also gunfire heard in the Red Sea city of Port Sudan, where there had been no earlier reports of fighting.

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The doctors’ union also reported that scores of military personnel were killed in the fighting without giving a specific number, due to a lack of firsthand information from many of the hospitals where those casualties were taken.

The group earlier said it had recorded deaths at Khartoum’s airport and Omdurman, as well as west of Khartoum in the cities of Nyala, El Obeid and El Fasher.

In a statement on Saturday, the RSF claimed to have seized the presidential palace, the army chief’s residence, state television station and airports in Khartoum, the northern city of Merowe, El Fasher and West Darfur state, a claim yhe army rejected.

Meanwhile, the Sudanese air force told people to stay indoors while it conducted what it called an aerial survey of RSF activity, and a holiday was declared in Khartoum state for Sunday, closing schools, banks and government offices.

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