Missiles kill seven in ongoing Sudan capital battles, army regains control of Abrof

The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) continued its attacks on positions of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in greater Khartoum yesterday and today. The SAF managed to regain control of Abrof neighbourhood in old Omdurman and is now besieging the buildings of the Sudan Radio and Television Corporation at the River Nile in adjacent Beit El Mal. In southern Khartoum, seven people were killed during the fighting yesterday. This morning, two Sufi worshipers were wounded in Omdurman when army soldiers fired at them.

Mohamed Kandasha, spokesperson for the emergency committee of Khartoum’s Southern Belt, told Radio Dabanga yesterday that five men, a woman, and a child were killed by artillery shells in the El Nahda El Nageed neighbourhood in southern Khartoum.

In old Omdurman, two people were injured when an army force opened fire on worshipers at dawn this morning. They were leaving the mosque in Beit El Mal after dawn prayers this morning, Sheikh El Amin Omar, head of the El Gadiriya El Mukashfi Sufi order reported in a video clip on social media. He said that the force commander apologised to the worshipers, saying that he had not been notified of the presence of civilians in the area.

The army continued its advance in Omdurman that was almost completely under control of the RSF. Military sources affiliated with the SAF indicated that the army is besieging the Sudan Radio and Television Corporation near Abrof along the River Nile in old Omdurman from various directions.

Residents of the area reported the presence of SAF troops near the El Morada Market and west of Dar El Riyada (Sports House). They said that the RSF is taking advantage of the nearby River Nile to transport weapons and ammunition by boat to their members controlling the buildings of the national radio and television and the area behind it to the borders of the Beit El Mal neighbourhood.

Sources downplayed the military importance of old Omdurman after the nearby Shambat Bridge, linking Omdurman with Khartoum North, was destroyed in November.

Earlier this month, Radio Dabanga reported about serious concerns by the Sudanese Journalists Syndicate (SJS) that the battles for the Sudan Radio and Television Corporation would lead to the destruction of the corporation’s nearly 100 year-old archives.

The SAF took control of the Abrof neighbourhood on Saturday and continued their attacks on the eastern areas of the old Omdurman yesterday morning. In the evening, the SAF confirmed its control over Abrof and Beit El Mal. 

The RSF still control large parts of El Salha and Ombadda in southern and western Omdurman.

Communications blackout

The El Salha Neighbourhood Committees said in a report posted on social media yesterday that the area has been under RSF control “from the beginning of the war until now” and has not witnessed direct ground clashes between the RSF and the SAF.

The neighbourhoods, however, were subjected to “indiscriminate aerial bombardment” by the Sudanese Air Force, which “killed and wounded a large number of unarmed civilians”.

The airstrikes “decreased to a large extent recently, with the exception of limited bombing of an RSF base during the past two days.”

The neighbourhood committees further reported that the nearly three-weeks old interruption of communications and Internet services “caused a state of tension among the remaining residents of El Salha”.

They said that the communications blackout “resulted in a catastrophic living situation due to the loss of sources of income as a result of the damned April 15 war. Many people depend on bank transfers from relatives abroad, which has now been interrupted because of the Internet outages.”

Sources in Omdurman reported a partial return of the MTN network. The Sudani network reportedly returned to eastern and northern Sudan, while it continued to be cut off in the rest of the country.