Sudan鈥檚 paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) said it had seized the main base of a heavily armed police unit on Sunday as it sought an edge in its war with the army during heavy fighting in the capital Khartoum.
The RSF in a statement said it had taken full control of the large base belonging to the Central Reserve Police in southern Khartoum and posted footage of its fighters celebrating inside the facility, some removing boxes of ammunition from a warehouse.
It later said it had captured 160 pick-up trucks, 75 armored personnel carriers, and 27 tanks. Reuters was not immediately able to verify the footage or the RSF statements. There was no immediate comment from the army or the police.
Since late Saturday, fighting has surged in the three cities that make up the wider capital 鈥� Khartoum, Bahri, and Omdurman 鈥� as the conflict between the army and the RSF entered its 11th week.
Witnesses also reported a sharp increase in violence in recent days in Nyala, the largest city in the western Darfur region. The United Nations (UN) raised the alarm on Saturday, June 24, over ethnic targeting and the killing of people from the Masalit community in El Geneina in West Darfur.
Khartoum and El Geneina have been worst affected by the war, although last week tensions and clashes escalated in other parts of Darfur and in Kordofan, in the south.
FILE PHOTO: A man walks while smoke rises above buildings after aerial bombardments during clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum North, Sudan, May 1, 2023. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah/File Photo
Fighting has intensified since a series of ceasefire deals agreed at talks led by the United States and Saudi Arabia in Jeddah failed to stick. The talks were adjourned last week.
The Central Reserve Police has been deployed by the army in ground fighting in recent weeks. It had previously been used as a combat force in several regions and to confront protesters demonstrating against a coup in 2021.
It was sanctioned last year by the United States, accused of using excessive force against protesters.
鈥楲eft alone鈥�
The army, led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, has been using air strikes and heavy artillery to try to dislodge the RSF led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, from neighborhoods across the capital.
鈥淪ince the early morning in north Omdurman we鈥檝e had air strikes and artillery bombardment and RSF anti-aircraft fire,鈥� 47-year-old resident Mohamed al-Samani told Reuters by phone. 鈥淲here are the Jeddah talks, why did the world leave us to die alone in Burhan and Hemedti鈥檚 war?鈥�
READ: Fighting resumes in Sudan鈥檚 capital as three-day ceasefire expires
In Nyala, a city that grew rapidly as people were displaced during the earlier conflict that spread in Darfur after 2003, witnesses reported a marked deterioration in the security situation over the past few days, with violent clashes in residential neighborhoods. A human rights monitor said at least 25 civilians had been killed in Nyala since Tuesday.
鈥淭oday I left Nyala because of the war. Yesterday there was bombardment in the streets and bullets going into homes,鈥� Saleh Haroun, a 38-year-old resident of the city, told Reuters.
READ: Shelling, looting in Sudan鈥檚 capital as military factions battle for eighth week
There was also fighting between the army and the RSF last week around El Fashir, capital of North Darfur, which the UN says is inaccessible to humanitarian workers.
In El Geneina, which has been almost entirely cut off from communications networks and aid supplies in recent weeks, attacks by Arab militias and the RSF have sent tens of thousands fleeing over the border to Chad.
READ: UN warns more than one million may flee Sudan bloodshed
UN Human Rights spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani on Saturday called for safe passage for people fleeing El Geneina and access for aid workers following reports of summary executions between the city and the border and 鈥減ersistent hate speech鈥� including calls to kill the Masalit or expel them.
Of those uprooted by the conflict in Sudan, nearly 2 million have been displaced internally and almost 600,000 have fled to neighboring countries, according to the International Organization for Migration.
READ: EXPLAINER: What is happening in Sudan? Fighting in Khartoum explained