Sudanese army, paramilitary forces exchange violent artillery shelling around army's general command

KHARTOUM, Sudan

The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on Monday exchanged violent artillery bombardment in the vicinity of the army's General Command, according to eyewitnesses.

The RSF launched a violent artillery attack on the army's General Command from its bases in south of the Sudanese capital Khartoum, eyewitnesses said.

Video clips published by local media show smoke columns rising from around the army's General Command in central Khartoum as a result of the clash.

Over the past 10 days, the RSF has been launching missile attacks towards the army's General Command from its bases in eastern and southern Khartoum.

"The clashes have intensified between the two sides for the tenth day around the army's General Command with sounds of strong explosions heard amid rising columns of smoke from the area," the independent Sudan Tribune news portal reported on Monday.

The SAF, in turn, responded with fierce artillery strikes on a number of neighborhoods in the eastern Nile area in Bahri city, where the RSF fighters are heavily deployed, according to the eyewitnesses.

"The SAF has launched drone attacks on RSF positions south of Khartoum," an eyewitness who requires anonymity told Xinhua.

People walk in the Metche camp, where around 40,000 people are currently living in Metche, Chad, September 20, 2023. /CFP

In the meantime, the emergency room of Al-Jarif Sharq district, a northern Khartoum suburb, said in a statement that the area had come under violent bombardment, calling on the residents to remain inside their homes and stay away from doors and windows.

The RSF, for its part, said in a statement on Monday that it had shot down a MIG warplane of the army, accusing the SAF of "exercising a scorched earth policy" by deliberately bombing residential neighborhoods, markets, and vital facilities in the capital and cities of Darfur and Kordofan states, causing deaths and injuries among thousands of innocent civilians.

Sudan has been witnessing deadly clashes between the SAF and the RSF in Khartoum and other areas since April 15, resulting in at least 3,000 deaths and more than 6,000 injuries, according to figures released by the Sudanese Health Ministry.

According to the latest report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), some 5.3 million people have been displaced inside and outside Sudan.

Over one million people have crossed into neighboring countries, including the Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia and South Sudan, OCHA said.