Explosions rocked the Sudanese capital Saturday as paramilitaries and the regular army traded attacks on each other's bases, days after the army warned the country was at a 'dangerous' turning point.
KHARTOUM - Explosions rocked the Sudanese capital Saturday as paramilitaries and the regular army traded attacks on each other's bases, days after the army warned the country was at a "dangerous" turning point.
AFP reporters heard gunfire near the airport, as well near Burhan's residence and in Khartoum North. Civilians were seen running for cover as artillery exchanges rocked the streets."The Rapid Support Forces were surprised Saturday with a large force from the army entering camps in Soba in Khartoum and laying siege to paramilitaries there," it said in a statement.The RSF said its fighters had also taken control of the airport in Merowe, north of Khartoum.
It said its fighters "were able to take control of Merowe airport" north of Khartoum, "expelled attackers on bases in Soba" and "took control of Khartoum airport.""Fighters from the Rapid Support Forces attacked several army camps in Khartoum and elsewhere around Sudan," army spokesman Brigadier General Nabil Abdallah told AFP.Troops blocked off the bridges across the Nile linking Khartoum with its sister cities of Omdurman and Khartoum North.
Eleventh-hour haggling between the two men over the details has twice forced postponement of the signing of an agreement with civilian factions setting out a roadmap for the transition. It said the deployment, which "took place without the approval of, or even just coordination with, the armed forces command" has "exacerbated security risks and increased tensions among security forces".
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