KHARTOUM: Paramilitary drones targeted Khartoum International Airport on Wednesday for a second consecutive day, a Sudanese military source told AFP.
The source, who spoke anonymously because he was not authorized to brief the media, said “drones targeted Khartoum airport once again at dawn” on Wednesday.
He added that army air defenses intercepted the drones he said had been launched by a “terrorist militia” — a reference to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which have been fighting the army since April 2023.
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.
But no further announcements on the reopening were made after Tuesday’s attack and it remains unclear whether operations will go ahead as planned following the latest strikes.
On Tuesday, witnesses reported hearing numerous explosions in an area near the airport in the early morning. The facility appeared intact during a visit later that day by army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan.
Speaking from inside the airport, Burhan said the army was “determined to crush this rebellion” — a reference to the RSF led by his former ally Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
The RSF has not claimed responsibility for the attacks, but has been repeatedly accused of using drones to target military and civilian infrastructure in recent months.
In a speech released late on Tuesday on social media, Dagalo asserted the RSF “attacks military positions only” and vowed to remove the army, which he called a “cancer.”
Khartoum has seen a relative lull in ground fighting since the army retook parts of the capital earlier this year, but drone strikes have continued amid ongoing efforts by the government to restore services and relocate key institutions back from the de facto capital of Port Sudan on the Red Sea.