Airstrike killed 17, including 5 children, in capital Khartoum, say Sudan officials

An airstrike in Sudan’s capital Khartoum on Saturday killed at least 17 people, including five children, health officials said, as fighting continued between rival generals seeking to control the country.

The attack was one of the deadliest of the clashes in urban areas of Khartoum and elsewhere in Sudan between the military and a powerful paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces.

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There was no immediate comment Saturday from either side of the conflict on the strike, and it was not clear whether the attack was by warplanes or a drone. The military’s aircraft have repeatedly targeted RSF troops and the RSF has reportedly used drones and anti-aircraft weapons against the military.

The fighting broke out in mid-April, capping months of increasing tensions between the leaders of the military and the RSF.

At least 25 houses were destroyed, the ministry wrote in a Facebook post. File photo

Saturday’s strike hit the Yormouk neighbourhood in southern Khartoum, where clashes have centered in recent weeks, according to Sudan's Ministry of Health. The area houses a military facility controlled by the army. At least 25 houses were destroyed, the ministry wrote in a Facebook post.

The dead included five children and an unknown number of women and elderly people, and some wounded people were hospitalised, the ministry said.

A local group that calls itself The Emergency Room and helps organize humanitarian aid in the area, said at least 11 people were wounded in the strike. It posted images it said were of houses damaged in the attack and people searching through rubble. Other images claimed to show a wounded girl and man.

The United States and Saudi Arabia announced late Saturday that the warring sides agreed on a 72-hour cease-fire across the African country. The new cease-fire would take effect Sunday morning Khartoum time, according to a joint US-Saudi statement.

The statement said both the military and the RSF agreed to stop fighting and "refrain from seeking military advantage during the ceasefire.”

Martin Griffiths

Martin Griffiths, the UN’s top humanitarian official, decried the fighting in Darfur on Thursday, especially in Genena where trapped residents "are living a nightmare.”

"Babies dying in hospitals where they were being treated; children and mothers suffering from severe malnutrition; camps for displaced persons burned to the ground; girls raped; schools closed; and families eating leaves to survive,” he said.

Griffiths urged the international community to intervene to avert another cycle of violence such as the one Darfur experienced in the early 2000s when it was the scene of genocidal war. Ethnic Africans rebelled, accusing the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum of discrimination. Former dictator Omar al-Bashir’s government was accused of retaliating by arming local nomadic Arab tribes, known as Janjaweed, who targeted civilians. The Janjaweed later evolved into the RSF.

Associated Press