Intensified Sudan capital battles leave 31 dead, drones target Atbara again

In a drone strike on a fuel station in southern Khartoum yesterday, 28 people were killed and 37 others were injured. Shelling by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) caused the death of three people in Omdurman on Saturday. Battles between the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in Khartoum North (Bahri) intensified. The airport of Atbara in northern Sudan was targeted by suicide drones at dawn today.

The Khartoum’s Southern Belt Emergency Room said in a statement on its Facebook account yesterday that 28 people were killed and 37 others were injured in a drone strike on a fuel station at New Soug Sitta, north of the Bashair University Hospital, in the large Mayo neighbourhood, yesterday morning.

Of the people wounded, 29 suffer from burns, three of them seriously. The others sustained shrapnel injuries, the emergency room said. “Medical and relief efforts are continuing to deal with the victims, amid calls to provide additional support to those affected.”

The densely populated Mayo district is under the control of the RSF. The Southern Belt* Emergency Room, set up by volunteers after the RSF occupied most parts of the three cities of Khartoum state in the first days of the war with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) that erupted on April 15 last year.

Omdurman

The Khartoum state Ministry of Health reported the death of three people and the injury of 14 others due to RSF artillery shelling on several neighbourhoods in Karari locality in Omdurman on Saturday.

The spokesperson for the ministry, Mohamed Ibrahim, accused the RSF of shelling the El Zubeir Mousa Health Centre in the El Omda neighbourhood in old Omdurman, which led to the death of a child and the serious injury of three others.

Medical doctor Amal Ibrahim and immunisation programmer Israa Ahmed died from shrapnel injuries they sustained by the shelling. At least 11 people were wounded in RSF attacks on Karari neighbourhoods 2, 24, and 29.

Khartoum North

In Khartoum North (Khartoum Bahri), the Martyr Ali Abdelfattah Hospital in El Doroshab was shelled on Friday. No casualties were reported.

Large parts of the northern city of Khartoum state are witnessing an escalation in the intensity of SAF-RSF battles, on the ground and by air.

In end September, the SAF launched an offensive on Khartoum and Khartoum Bahri from areas under its control in Omdurman. Army soldiers and allied forces managed to seize parts of the cities but were halted by the RSF.

Atbara

The airport of Atbara in River Nile state was attacked by drones this early morning, residents of the town told Radio Dabanga.

“More than 10 suicide drones fell in the vicinity of the airport between 2:00 and 5:30,” one of them said.

The sources reported hearing the sounds of anti-aircraft missiles before the dawn call to prayer, in an attempt to intercept the drones.

Activists circulated a video on social media showing missiles intercepting the drones, coinciding with the call to prayer.

The River Nile state Security Committee confirmed that “ground defence, anti-aircraft guns, and electronic jamming devices were able to repel the attacks that aimed to destroy the infrastructure of Atbara Airport. “All attacking aircraft were shot down in the vicinity of the airport without any loss of life or property.”

The security committee ruled out that the drones were launched within River Nile state. “The suicide drones were accurately targeted at Atbara Airport from a missile launch pad outside the state, with a range exceeding 500 kilometres”.

The security committee of Atbara locality yesterday closed all cafes and shisha smoking places from 18:00.

“This decision, taken after assessing the current security situation, comes within the framework of efforts aimed at enhancing security and stability in the region,” the committee said in a statement yesterday.

Earlier this month, Governor Mohamed El Badawi extended the state of emergency in Nile River state for a month.

Drones

Atbara, which remained, like most parts of northern Sudan, under control of the SAF, has witnessed intensive drone attacks in the first few months of this year. In early April, at least five people died in a drone attack on a Ramadan iftar by the SAF affiliated Islamist El Baraa bin Malik brigade in Atbara. The town of Shendi, south of Atbara, was threatened by drones in April. The airport of Merowe (Meroe) in Northern State was also targeted.

The authorities accuse the RSF of carrying out the attacks. The paramilitary group, however, has not claimed any responsibility.

Both the RSF and SAF have used drones for surveillance and offensive purposes since the beginning of the war, Aberfoyle International Security said in a report in June.

The SAF, having restored relations with Iran last year, “is now receiving shipments of advanced Iranian drones, while the RSF relies on shipments of drones and other weapons from the anti-Iran, anti-Islamist United Arab Emirates (UAE),” the IAS report stated. “The import of drones to Sudan violates a 2005 UN Security Council resolution that bans the supply of weapons to the Sudanese government and armed groups in Darfur.”

Radio Dabanga reported in March this year that drones, in particular the Iranian Mohajer-6, were reportedly a ‘decisive factor’ in the success of the SAF battle to wrest control of central Omdurman from the RSF control in March this year.

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* Khartoum’s Southern Belt is part of the periphery of the capital inhabited by people earlier displaced by wars in Darfur, Kordofan, and Blue Nile region and South Sudanese refugees, and by impoverished farmers from various parts of the country who lost their lands to banks.