KHARTOUM: A drone attack struck the vicinity of Khartoum International Airport early Tuesday, witnesses said, one day before the army-backed government was due to reopen the facility for domestic flights for the first time in over two years.
The airport has been shut since fighting erupted in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), leaving vital infrastructure across the capital heavily damaged.
Witnesses told AFP they heard the sounds of drones in central and southern Khartoum and sounds of explosions in the airport area from 4 am until 6 am local time (0200-0400 GMT).
One eyewitness in the Al-Azhari neighborhood in southern Khartoum said he “heard the sound of an explosion and then a drone passed overhead.”
A resident in central Khartoum said he was woken “at 4 am to the sound of drones in the sky. Shortly after, we heard loud explosions in the direction of the airport.”
On Monday, Sudan’s Civil Aviation Authority had said the airport would reopen on Wednesday, with domestic flights resuming gradually after technical and operational preparations were completed.
Khartoum has remained relatively calm since the army reclaimed control earlier this year, but drone attacks have continued, with the RSF repeatedly accused of targeting military and civilian infrastructure.
Another eyewitness also told AFP that “drones bombed northern Omdurman,” part of greater Khartoum, early Tuesday, an area known to host some of Sudan’s largest military installations.
“I saw three drones heading north toward Wadi Sayedna (military) base and I heard the sound of explosions,” they said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the strikes and no information on casualties or damage was released.
Tuesday’s strike marks the third drone attack on the capital in a week. Last week, drones targeted Khartoum on two consecutive days, including strikes on two army bases in the city’s northwest. A military official said most of the drones were intercepted.
Following the army’s counteroffensive and recapture of Khartoum, more than 800,000 people have returned to the capital.
The army-aligned government has since launched a wide-ranging reconstruction campaign and is moving officials back from the Red Sea city of Port Sudan, where they had operated during the conflict.
Large parts of Khartoum, however, remain in ruins, with millions still experiencing frequent blackouts linked to RSF drone activity.
The most intense violence meanwhile is now concentrated in the west, where RSF forces have surrounded El-Fasher, the last major city in Darfur not under their control.
The paramilitary force has tried to seize the city for over 18 months, making it the most strategically critical front of the war.
The UN warned on Monday of escalating violence in North and West Darfur, with drone strikes and ground clashes reported across both regions.
The wider war in Sudan has killed tens of thousands, displaced nearly 12 million and created the world’s largest displacement and hunger crises.
