At least 56 civilians have been killed and 595 people, including combatants, have been wounded in fierce fighting between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the Sudanese Doctors Union says as the violence entered its second day in the capital, Khartoum.
Al Jazeera’s live television feed showed clouds of smoke billowing over Khartoum’s skyline on Sunday. Witnesses told Al Jazeera that fighter jets were visible in the skies over the city, seemingly targeting RSF locations in air raids. The Reuters news agency reported that heavy artillery was fired across the capital and surrounding areas and fighter.
What has happened so far?
“We can hear shots being fired. We can hear heavy artillery being fired,” Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan reported from Khartoum after the fighting broke out on Saturday. “It’s not clear who is in control of the [Presidential] Palace, and there are battles over the state television.”
“Fighter jets were witnessed in several districts, seeming to target RSF locations using air strikes,” she said. “We can see plumes of smoke where those strikes have been carried out.”
Saturday saw fighting in the capital and other parts of the country as the army struck a base belonging to the RSF in the city of Omdurman, outside Khartoum, witnesses told Reuters.
The sound of heavy fire was audible across the capital with reports of fighters from both sides engaging their weapons from armoured vehicles and machine guns mounted on pick-up trucks in densely populated areas.
The RSF claimed to have seized the presidential palace, army chief’s residence, state television station and airports in Khartoum, the northern city of Merowe, El Fasher and West Darfur state. The army rejected those assertions.
The 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 on Sunday, closing schools, banks and government offices.
Source: Aljazeera.com
