The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have targeted Sudan’s capital Khartoum and its main airport with drones, a day after the first passenger flight in two years landed in the city amid the civil war.
The government-aligned Sudanese Armed Foces (SAF) intercepted the drones Thursday, which caused no damage, a military official who spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press said. The RSF and SAF did not immediately acknowledge the attack.
Witnesses told the news agency AFP that they heard two drones over Khartoum at around 4am (02:00 GMT), before explosions went off.
The airport has come under repeated drone attacks blamed on the RSF since Tuesday. Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan said “both sides seem to be stepping up the use of drones, with the RSF using them here in the capital Khartoum to target facilities such as the airport.”
Last week, drones targeted two army bases in northwest Khartoum, although a military official said most of the aircraft were intercepted.
Civil war broke out in Sudan in 2023, when SAF and the RSF, once allies, turned on each other, leading to widespread fighting and devastation across the country.
The Sudanese military retook the capital from the paramilitary force in March, but it needed months to repair Khartoum International Airport before the local Badr airlines landed a plane there on Wednesday.
The airport’s reopening has been postponed “under further notice”, an airport official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The war in Sudan has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced about 12 million more and left 30 million people in need of humanitarian assistance in the country, making it the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.
The International Organization for Migration and other UN agencies have called for an “immediate cessation of hostilities and protection of civilians, especially children, and unhindered humanitarian access to all affected populations.”
One of hardest hit areas is el-Fasher, the provincial capital of North Darfur province, which has been under siege for over a year. The UN and other aid groups warn that 260,000 civilians remain trapped in the city.
“What I witnessed in Darfur and elsewhere this week is a stark reminder of what is at stake: Children facing hunger, disease and the collapse of essential services,” said Ted Chaiban, UNICEF’s deputy executive director, in a statement.
“Entire communities are surviving in conditions that defy dignity,” Chaiban added.
