KHARTOUM: Sudanese paramilitaries have carried out a rare drone attack in the army-controlled east, targeting Kassala airport near the border with Eritrea, a source from the army-backed government said on Saturday.
The paramilitaries have expanded the scope and frequency of their aerial attacks on army-held areas in recent weeks, after losing control of swathes of territory to the regular army.
“A drone targeted the fuel storage area at Kassala airport,” the army-aligned source told AFP, blaming the strike on the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and reporting no casualties or damage.
Since April 2023, the regular army, headed by Sudan’s de facto leader General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, has been battling the RSF, led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, in a brutal war that has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted 13 million.
The conflict has left Africa’s third largest country effectively divided.
The regular army controls the center, east and north, while the RSF holds sway in nearly all of the vast western region of Darfur and parts of the south.
Kassala hosts around 318,000 civilians displaced by the conflict, according to the International Organization for Migration.
The city is some 400 kilometers (250 miles) from the nearest RSF-held territory, south of the capital Khartoum’s sister city of Omdurman.
It lies about the same distance from territory controlled by an RSF-allied rebel group, the faction of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) led by Abdelaziz Al-Hilu.
The Kassala strike was just one of a wave of RSF drone attacks on strategic facilities held by the army in recent weeks.
A strike on power infrastructure in the northeastern city of Atbara plunged much of the country into darkness.
The paramilitaries have boasted a number of territorial gains in recent days after their loss of nearly all of greater Khartoum in March.
On Thursday, the RSF said it had taken the desert town of El-Nuhud in West Kordofan state, a key staging post on the army’s supply route to Darfur where its besieged garrison in the city of El-Fasher has been under attack for weeks.
Sudanese monitoring group Emergency Lawyers has said the paramilitaries made dozens of arrests in El-Nuhud and summarily executed more than 27 alleged army collaborators.
On Friday, the RSF said it had captured the town of El-Khoei, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) east of El-Nuhud.
Witnesses reported seeing regular army troops withdrawing toward the North Kordofan state capital El Obeid.
An army source said that a cargo plane was hit on Saturday as it landed in South Darfur state capital Nyala to resupply its RSF garrison.
The source did not specify who targeted the aircraft.
Residents reported hearing a loud explosion early in the morning from the vicinity of the airport.
In late February, the RSF and its allies signed a charter in Kenya announcing a plan to establish a rival government to the army-aligned government based in Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast.
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Paramilitary drone hits Sudan airport near Eritrea: pro-army source
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Paramilitary drone hits Sudan airport near Eritrea: pro-army source
- “A drone targeted the fuel storage area at Kassala airport,” the army-aligned source told AFP, blaming the strike on the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF)
Gaza health officials say strikes kill 21 after Israel says shots wounded officer
GAZA CITY: Gazan health officials said Israeli air strikes on Wednesday killed 21 people in the Palestinian territory, with Israel’s military saying it struck after gunfire targeting its troops wounded an officer.
Despite a US-brokered truce entering its second phase last month, violence has continued in the Gaza Strip, with Israel and Hamas accusing each other of breaching the agreement.
The latest bloodshed came days after Israel partly reopened the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, the only exit for Gazans that does not pass through Israel.
The health ministry, which operates under Hamas authority, said that 21 people were killed in a series of strikes, with at least 38 others wounded, updating an earlier figure given by the territory’s civil defense agency.
Among the dead were three children, said the agency, which operates as a rescue force under the Hamas authority.
“We were sleeping when suddenly shells and gunfire rained down on us,” said Abu Mohammed Haboush, whose son was killed.
“Young children were martyred, my son and my nephew were among the dead. We lost many young men,” he said, adding that he and his family were living far away from the so-called “Yellow Line,” where Israeli forces are stationed.
AFP images showed mourners offering prayers in the compound of Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, where several bodies wrapped in white shrouds were laid out.
An AFP photograph showed a relative holding a body of a child wrapped in a shroud at the hospital as relatives gathered around him.
Shortage of medical aid
Three bodies were brought to Nasser Hospital after Israeli strikes hit homes and tents housing displaced Palestinians in the southern Khan Yunis area, the civil defense agency said.
Fourteen more bodies were taken to Al-Shifa Hospital, its director Mohamed Abu Salmiya said in a statement.
“We also received dozens of wounded. The situation is extremely difficult in the hospitals of the Gaza Strip due to the severe shortage of medicines and medical supplies,” Abu Salmiya said.
Israel scrutinizes all aid into besieged Gaza, a tiny coastal territory surrounded by fences, walls and the Mediterranean Sea.
The Israeli military said it had launched strikes after “terrorists opened fire on troops” Wednesday, seriously wounding an officer, adding that it considers the incident a violation of the ceasefire.
It said the troops came under attack near the “Yellow Line,” without specifying which side of the line the troops were on.
The ceasefire took effect after two years of war in Gaza, sparked by Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel.
Following what was reportedly US pressure, Israel allowed the opening of the Rafah crossing, but limited passage to patients and their travel companions.
Sick and wounded Gazans have begun crossing into Egypt to seek medical treatment since Monday.
On Tuesday, 45 people crossed into Egypt and 42 entered the territory, a source at the Palestinian Red Crescent Society told AFP.
Shortly after midnight Wednesday, those meant to enter during the day on Tuesday arrived in Gaza through Rafah in a large bus, an AFP journalist reported.
‘My homeland’
Relatives of those returning from Egypt screamed in joy, hugging and crying.
“I am so happy to be back with my husband, my children, my family, my loved ones, and of course, my homeland,” Fariza Barabakh, who returned that day, told AFP.
“It’s an indescribable feeling, thank God. What can I say? My two young children didn’t recognize me, but thank God. I hope it will be alright,” Yusef Abu Fahma, another returnee, told AFP.
Gaza’s health ministry says at least 556 people have been killed in Israeli strikes since the ceasefire took effect on October 10, while the Israeli military says four of its soldiers have been killed over the same period.
Saturday was among the deadliest days, with the civil defense agency reporting at least 32 people killed in Israeli attacks, which the military said were in response to a Hamas ceasefire violation.
Media restrictions and limited access in Gaza have prevented AFP from independently verifying casualty figures or freely covering the fighting.
Despite a US-brokered truce entering its second phase last month, violence has continued in the Gaza Strip, with Israel and Hamas accusing each other of breaching the agreement.
The latest bloodshed came days after Israel partly reopened the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, the only exit for Gazans that does not pass through Israel.
The health ministry, which operates under Hamas authority, said that 21 people were killed in a series of strikes, with at least 38 others wounded, updating an earlier figure given by the territory’s civil defense agency.
Among the dead were three children, said the agency, which operates as a rescue force under the Hamas authority.
“We were sleeping when suddenly shells and gunfire rained down on us,” said Abu Mohammed Haboush, whose son was killed.
“Young children were martyred, my son and my nephew were among the dead. We lost many young men,” he said, adding that he and his family were living far away from the so-called “Yellow Line,” where Israeli forces are stationed.
AFP images showed mourners offering prayers in the compound of Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, where several bodies wrapped in white shrouds were laid out.
An AFP photograph showed a relative holding a body of a child wrapped in a shroud at the hospital as relatives gathered around him.
Shortage of medical aid
Three bodies were brought to Nasser Hospital after Israeli strikes hit homes and tents housing displaced Palestinians in the southern Khan Yunis area, the civil defense agency said.
Fourteen more bodies were taken to Al-Shifa Hospital, its director Mohamed Abu Salmiya said in a statement.
“We also received dozens of wounded. The situation is extremely difficult in the hospitals of the Gaza Strip due to the severe shortage of medicines and medical supplies,” Abu Salmiya said.
Israel scrutinizes all aid into besieged Gaza, a tiny coastal territory surrounded by fences, walls and the Mediterranean Sea.
The Israeli military said it had launched strikes after “terrorists opened fire on troops” Wednesday, seriously wounding an officer, adding that it considers the incident a violation of the ceasefire.
It said the troops came under attack near the “Yellow Line,” without specifying which side of the line the troops were on.
The ceasefire took effect after two years of war in Gaza, sparked by Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel.
Following what was reportedly US pressure, Israel allowed the opening of the Rafah crossing, but limited passage to patients and their travel companions.
Sick and wounded Gazans have begun crossing into Egypt to seek medical treatment since Monday.
On Tuesday, 45 people crossed into Egypt and 42 entered the territory, a source at the Palestinian Red Crescent Society told AFP.
Shortly after midnight Wednesday, those meant to enter during the day on Tuesday arrived in Gaza through Rafah in a large bus, an AFP journalist reported.
‘My homeland’
Relatives of those returning from Egypt screamed in joy, hugging and crying.
“I am so happy to be back with my husband, my children, my family, my loved ones, and of course, my homeland,” Fariza Barabakh, who returned that day, told AFP.
“It’s an indescribable feeling, thank God. What can I say? My two young children didn’t recognize me, but thank God. I hope it will be alright,” Yusef Abu Fahma, another returnee, told AFP.
Gaza’s health ministry says at least 556 people have been killed in Israeli strikes since the ceasefire took effect on October 10, while the Israeli military says four of its soldiers have been killed over the same period.
Saturday was among the deadliest days, with the civil defense agency reporting at least 32 people killed in Israeli attacks, which the military said were in response to a Hamas ceasefire violation.
Media restrictions and limited access in Gaza have prevented AFP from independently verifying casualty figures or freely covering the fighting.
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