Drone strike near Khartoum airport ahead of planned reopening - eyewitnesses
As-salamu alaykum. Early Tuesday, eyewitnesses say a drone strike hit the area around Khartoum International Airport just a day before authorities planned to reopen it for domestic flights. People reported hearing drones over central and southern Khartoum and several explosions near the airport between about 4:00 and 6:00 am (0200–0400 GMT). The airport has been closed since fighting began in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces, which damaged much of the capital’s infrastructure.
Sudan’s Civil Aviation Authority had announced the airport would reopen on Wednesday with domestic services returning gradually after technical checks. Although Khartoum has been calmer since the army retook control earlier this year, drone incidents have kept happening; the RSF has repeatedly been accused of attacking military and civilian targets from a distance. One witness also said drones struck northern Omdurman early Tuesday, an area that hosts major military sites.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility and no word yet on casualties or damage. This was the third drone incident in the capital in a week - last week drones reportedly targeted two army bases in northwest Khartoum over two days, and officials said most were intercepted. Since the army’s counteroffensive, over 800,000 people have returned to Khartoum. The government aligned with the army has started rebuilding efforts and moving officials back from Port Sudan, where they had been based during the fighting. Still, large parts of the city are in ruins and many residents face frequent blackouts tied to ongoing drone activity.
The fiercest fighting is now in the west, where RSF forces have besieged El-Fasher, the last major Darfur city not under their control. They have tried to take it for more than 18 months; if they capture it they would control all of Darfur and much of southern Sudan, while the army remains dominant in the centre, east and north. The conflict has had a devastating human cost - tens of thousands killed, nearly 12 million displaced, and a massive humanitarian and hunger crisis.
May Allah grant safety to the people affected and ease their suffering.
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