Drones hit paramilitary sites in west Sudan: Witnesses

Three drone strikes have hit key paramilitary positions in western Sudan, witnesses said Sunday, as fighting between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces escalates in the war-torn region.

The strikes in Nyala, the South Darfur state capital, targeted a hotel and a medical unit in the city center and RSF-held positions on the eastern outskirts, residents said.

“We saw ambulances transporting the wounded to several hospitals,” one resident told AFP in a message.

The RSF has controlled much of Nyala since the conflict began in April 2023 between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

Air strikes on RSF positions have intensified, hitting Nyala airport — a key RSF base — and other targets.

In early May, army planes bombed RSF sites in Nyala and the West Darfur capital, El-Geneina, destroying depots and equipment, a military source said.

A cargo plane was also reportedly fired on while landing at Nyala airport, though the source did not say who was responsible.

Satellite images released last month by Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab showed six advanced at the city’s RSF-held airport.

The Chinese-made drones appeared “capable of long-range surveillance and strikes”, it said.

After nearly daily attacks in early May, the strikes paused for a week before resuming on Saturday. Residents reported intercepts of drones by air defenses north and west of the city.

The war has killed tens of thousands and displaced 13 million — nearly a quarter of the population — in what the United Nations calls one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters.

The conflict has effectively split the northeast African country in two with the army holding the north, east and center while the RSF and its allies dominate nearly all of Darfur in the west and parts of the south.