Clashes across Sudan's southern Kordofan region killed at least 32 people from Wednesday to Thursday, medical sources told AFP, as the army said it recaptured the city of Bara, on the road to Khartoum.

In the South Kordofan city of Dilling on Thursday, "nine people were killed and 50 injured by artillery fire and drone strikes" on residential neighbourhoods, roads and a market, a medical source at the local hospital told AFP.

The army broke a paramilitary siege on Dilling in January.

"The shelling has been very intense, bombs have been falling since the morning and many homes have been destroyed," a resident of the city told AFP.

Pushback against RSF

Both requested anonymity for fear of retaliation.

The attack comes a day after a drone strike killed five and injured seven in Dilling, the medical source said.

Another strike killed 18 and wounded 25 in the West Kordofan city of Al-Mojlad on Wednesday, a medic at the local hospital told AFP.

The army has, for months, pushed back against an RSF offensive in the region, which links the paramilitary group's strongholds in the western Darfur region to the army-controlled east.

Mass displacement

On Thursday, the army said it recaptured the city of Bara, which lies on a key highway linking Khartoum with North Kordofan state capital Al Obeid.

Tens of thousands have been displaced in recent months, as control of the city repeatedly traded hands.

"Entering Bara is a major turning point and will have repercussions for Al Obeid and all of North Kordofan," an army official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

A drone strike was later reported on a state public prosecution building in Al Obeid, a local official told AFP.

Hunger and displacement crises

Across Kordofan, hundreds of thousands are on the brink of starvation.

Since it began, the civil war in Sudan has killed tens of thousands and left around 11 million people displaced, creating the world's largest hunger and displacement crises.