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Sudan: Over 20 killed in army strike on Khartoum — rescuers

Saim Dušan Inayatullah
October 13, 2024

Volunteer rescuers in Sudan say the army launched a deadly strike on a marketplace in the south of the capital, Khartoum. The army is attempting to wrest back control of the capital from the RSF paramilitaries.

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Plooms of smoke billows over Khartoum during army air strikes
Fierce fighting has raged in Sudan's capital Khartoum, with the regular army attempting to retake areas controlled by the RSF paramilitariesImage: AFP

A military air strike on a marketplace in the Sudanese capital Khartoum killed 23 people, a network of volunteer rescuers said on Sunday.

Large parts of Khartoum are controlled by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which have been fighting the Sudanese military since a war broke out in April 2023.

What do we know about the strike?

In addition to the 23 deaths, 40 people were wounded in the military air strikes on Saturday afternoon in the main market," the Emergency Response Rooms said in a post on Facebook.

The Sudan Tribune news portal cited Mohamed Kandisha, a spokesperson for volunteer rescuers in the city's Southern Belt, as saying that the strike hit residential buildings.

"The bombing caused massive destruction that affected a large number of high-rise buildings in the central market area," Kandisha said.

The AFP news agency cited eyewitnesses as saying that clashes broke out in the city of Ombdurman in the Khartoum region as the military advanced towards the capital.

Sudan war: Who is backing the two rivals?

Thousands killed and millions displaced in fighting

The World Health Organization says at least 20,000 people have so far been killed in the war in Sudan, with other estimates putting the toll at as high as 150,000.

According to UN figures, at least 10 million people in Sudan have been forced out of their homes, making it the world's largest displacement crisis.

In August, a UN-backed assessment declared a famine in the Zamzam refugee camp in the western Darfur region. The region is largely controlled by the RSF paramilitary under commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

The government working with the official army, which is led by General Abdul Fattah al-Burhan, is based in Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast.

This article was written in part using material from AFP news agency.

Edited by: Darko Janjevic