The attack was the deadliest in Khartoum’s urban areas between the military and RSF paramilitary groups.
An air strike has killed at least 17 people, including five children, in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, as fighting rages between rival generals seeking control of the country.
Saturday’s attack was the deadliest in clashes between the army and a powerful paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the city of Khartoum and elsewhere in Sudan.
According to Sudan’s health ministry, the bombing occurred in the Yarmouk neighborhood in southern Khartoum, which has been the scene of clashes in recent weeks. There is a military facility controlled by the army in the area.
Many civilian casualties were taken to Bashir Hospital, the ministry said in a Facebook post, and at least 25 houses were destroyed.
The dead included five children and an unknown number of women and elderly people, the ministry added, describing the Yarmouk attack as a “massacre”.
It is not clear whether the attack was by air or drone. Army aircraft have repeatedly targeted RSF troops, while paramilitary forces have reportedly used drones and anti-aircraft weapons against army positions.
Conflict erupted in Sudan in mid-April, after the two fell in a power struggle, with Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, capping rising tensions between the military and the RSF’s respective leaders.
A local group that calls itself The Emergency Room and helps organize humanitarian aid in the area said at least 11 people were injured in the operation. It posted pictures showing homes damaged in the attack and people searching through the rubble. Other images claim to show an injured girl and man.
In a statement, the RSF alleged that military aircraft bombed the area, killing and injuring civilians. It claimed it shot down a military MiG fighter jet, but this could not be independently verified.
A military spokesman did not respond to messages seeking comment.
In a video posted Friday on the army’s Facebook page, Deputy Army Chief Yasir Atta warned civilians to stay away from houses where the RSF is located because the military “will attack them at any time.”
escalating struggle
The conflict, which began in mid-April, has plunged the country into chaos and turned Khartoum and other urban areas into battlegrounds. Paramilitary forces have occupied people’s homes and other civilian property since the war began, according to residents and activists.
Hundreds of civilians were killed and thousands injured in the conflict. More than 2.2 million people have fled their homes to safer areas inside Sudan or to neighboring countries.
In addition to Khartoum, fighting continues in Darfur, a vast area of western Sudan. El-Jenina, the provincial capital of West Darfur province, has experienced some of the worst fighting in the conflict, with tens of thousands of its residents fleeing to neighboring Chad.
Arab militias have recently joined pro-RSF clashes in El-Jenina, according to residents and activists.
On Wednesday, West Darfur Governor Khamis Abdallah Abkar was kidnapped and killed hours after accusing the RSF and allied militias of the El-Jenina attack in a televised interview.
His killing has been blamed on the RSF, a charge denied by the paramilitary.
A record 25 million people – more than half the population – need assistance and protection, according to the United Nations, which said it had received a fraction of the funding it needed.
Saudi Arabia announced an international pledge conference in Geneva on Monday.
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