22 killed in air strike on Sudan’s Omdurman: Health Ministry

Cairo: At least 22 people were killed and scores injured in an air strike by Sudan’s army on western Omdurman, the Khartoum state health ministry said on Saturday, as the war between the country’s military factions entered its 12th week.

While the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) quickly dominated the capital Khartoum and its sister cities Omdurman and Bahri after fighting broke out on April 15, the army has launched air and artillery strikes.

Tensions between both sides had grown in the months leading up to the war over the chain of command and integration of their forces under a new transition to democracy.

More than 2.9 million people have been uprooted, including nearly 700,000 who have fled into neighbouring countries. It has also caused “alarming numbers” of rape and abduction of women and girls, according to aid agencies.

Fighting has focused on Omdurman in recent days, as the western part of the city is a key supply route for the RSF to bring reinforcements in from Darfur, its power base.

The army said in a post on Facebook that Special Forces had killed 20 “rebel soldiers” and destroyed their weaponry.