Residents report explosions heard near Sudan's capital Khartoum
Residents told local media they were awoken around 2 am by the sound of explosions.
Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) carried out drone strikes early Friday targeting areas in Omdurman city in Khartoum state and Atbara in River Nile state, local media reported.
Residents in both cities reported hearing explosions and the sound of anti-aircraft fire at dawn as Sudanese army defenses responded to the incoming drones, according to the Sudan News outlet.
The extent of casualties and damage remains unclear, and neither the army nor the RSF has issued a statement regarding the strikes.
Following the RSF's capture of Al Fasher, the army's last major stronghold in western Darfur, less than two weeks ago, the paramilitaries appear to be shifting their focus eastward towards Khartoum and the oil-rich Kordofan region.
Khartoum has seen relative calm since the regular army regained control this year, but the RSF -- at war with the army since April 2023 -- has continued its attacks in several regions, targeting both military and civilian sites.
A resident in Omdurman, part of the greater Khartoum area, told AFP on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, that they were awoken "around 2 am (0000 GMT) by the sound of... explosions near the Wadi Sayidna military base".
‘Drone attacks’
Another resident said they "heard a drone overhead around 4 am before an explosion struck near" a power station, causing an outage in the area.
In army-controlled Atbara, around 300 kilometres (186 miles) north of Khartoum, a resident said several drones "appeared over the city shortly after 3 am" Friday.
"Anti-aircraft defences shot them down, but I saw fires breaking out and heard sounds of explosions in the east of the city," the resident said, also on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
Another Atbara resident told AFP: "I saw 10 drones over the city, and the anti-aircraft defences were shooting them down one by one, but at the same time, I saw fires in the east of the city."
There were no immediate reports of casualties, and neither the army nor the RSF have yet commented on the attacks.
Meanwhile, the Sudan Doctors' Union said that the RSF shelled a hospital in the besieged city of Dilling in South Kordofan on Thursday morning, causing several injuries, some critical.
The shelling "destroyed the hospital's radiology and medical imaging department", crippling one of the region's vital health facilities, the union said.