SUDAN – Fighting has intensified across Sudan as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group launched new attacks on the besieged city of El-Fasher in North Darfur and the city of Bara in North Kordofan.
According to a military source who spoke to Al Jazeera, the RSF attacked Bara — a city located about 350 kilometers (215 miles) southwest of the capital, Khartoum — from multiple directions on Saturday morning, drawing artillery fire from the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF).
Bara is one of the largest urban areas under army control near the western front line with the RSF but is now encircled by paramilitary fighters. Communication networks were cut off following the assault on North Kordofan’s second-largest city.
Clashes also continued in El-Fasher in the early hours of the morning, with columns of smoke rising above the provincial capital as shelling and gunfire persisted.
The paramilitary group released videos on Friday claiming that its fighters had seized the North Darfur governor’s residence in El-Fasher and had positioned themselves near the SAF’s 6th Infantry Division headquarters, the army’s local command centre, according to the Sudan Tribune. RSF fighters in the footage said they planned to advance toward the city centre.
A source within the 6th Infantry Division told the Sudan Tribune that a “cautious calm” had returned to El-Fasher by Friday morning, following what he described as a major attack the previous day.
However, residents trapped inside the besieged city remained under fire.
“It’s happening everywhere, even near me. An artillery shell landed about 100 metres [110 yards] away,” one El-Fasher resident told Al Jazeera.
The escalation comes as medical workers warn that the humanitarian situation has reached catastrophic levels. Dr Razan Al-Mahdi, spokesperson for the Sudan Doctors Network, said in a statement on Thursday that the crisis in El-Fasher had “surpassed all comprehension.” (Aljazeera)
