Paramilitaries expand attacks in Sudan
Sudanese paramilitary group the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has launched a drone attack on Port Sudan, targeting a military air base and nearby facilities, the African country’s army spokesperson reported on Sunday.
The strike marks the first RSF attack on the eastern city since clashes erupted between the group and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) more than two years ago. The army said the shelling caused “limited damage” to an ammunition store at the Osman Digna air base, but no casualties were recorded.
Port Sudan – home to the country’s main airport, military headquarters, and its seaport – had been considered the safest haven in a war that has devastated the capital, Khartoum, and killed thousands of people.
The SAF said it had closed roads leading to the presidential palace and army command following the incident and increased deployments around key locations.
The Port Sudan attack came just days after the RSF seized control of El-Nuhud, West Kordofan state’s largest city. At least three health workers, including the medical director at the E-Nuhud hospital, were killed following the May 1 takeover, local news outlet Sudan Tribune reported on Sunday, citing a statement from the Sudan Doctors Syndicate.
In March, the army drove RSF forces out of their last positions in Khartoum, but the militia group has maintained control in parts of Omdurman across the Nile and tightened its grips over western Sudan.
The RSF has not commented on the Port Sudan attack, but it confirmed its operations in Al-Nuhud in an official statement on Saturday. The group announced that its fighters have also “successfully liberated the city of Al-Khowei in West Kordofan State, just one day after liberating the city of Al-Nuhoud.”
The conflict between the army and the RSF began as a power struggle in April 2023 and has since displaced over 12.4 million people, including over 3.3 million refugees who have fled to neighboring countries, according to UN estimates. Approximately half of Sudan’s 50 million people are facing acute hunger. A study published last year by researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine estimated that the death toll in Khartoum state alone could be around 61,000.
