Sudan: Air raid leaves at least 22 dead in Omdurman

At least 22 people were killed in an airstrike on a city in Sudan, making it one of the bloodiest attacks to date in the weeks-long conflict between the Sudanese army and a rebel paramilitary organization, Al Jazeera reported.

According to a statement from the health ministry, the assault took place on Saturday in a residential area of Omdurman, the city next to the capital Khartoum. Unknown numbers of individuals were injured in the attack.

This air raid was one of the deadliest of the clashes between the military and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) that took place in the capital and other metropolitan areas. In Khartoum, an airstrike last month claimed the lives of at least 17 individuals, five of whom were children.

The RSF accused the army of assaulting Omdurman's residential districts, where violence has been raging between the opposing factions, and said that the attack left 31 people dead. According to reports, the military tried to cut off a vital supply connection, as per Al Jazeera.

"The RSF vehemently condemn the deliberate air strikes conducted by the extremist terrorist militia led by (army chief Abdel Fattah) al-Burhan," the group said in a statement.

"This heinous attack, orchestrated by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) with the support of remnants from the former regime ... has resulted in the tragic loss of more than 31 lives and numerous civilian injuries," it added.

The military did not immediately have a spokesperson available for comment.

It was difficult, according to two Omdurman residents, to identify the perpetrators of the attack. They claimed that RSF personnel in the area have been routinely attacked by army planes, and that the paramilitary group has retaliated by using drones and anti-aircraft weapons.

According to Abdel-Rahman, a local who only spoke by his first name, the army was targeting the RSF at the time of the raid early on Saturday, and the RSF used civilian homes as shields while launching anti-aircraft rounds at the invading jets, reported Al Jazeera.

The western portion of Omdurman is a crucial supply route for the RSF to bring reinforcements in from Darfur, its power base, which has caused fighting to concentrate there in recent days.

The nation's state broadcasting facility in eastern Omdurman has likewise been the target of attacks. Khartoum's south and east were also the targets of other overnight strikes.

According to the health ministry, violence that started on April 15 has claimed at least 1,133 lives. Over 2.9 million people have been displaced, with approximately 7,00,000 of them escaping to nearby nations.

The nation of East Africa, which is located between the Horn of Africa, the Sahel, and the Red Sea, is in danger of devolving into a larger civil war as a result of the conflict, enlisting both domestic and foreign parties, as per Al Jazeera.

The conflict erupted after months of escalating tensions between the military and the RSF.

According to relief organisations, the violence has also resulted in "alarming numbers" of rapes and kidnappings of women and girls.

Numerous cease-fire agreements mediated by Saudi and American mediators between the warring parties failed to put an end to the country's violence.

Since the military overthrew Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok's transitional administration and imposed a state of emergency in September 2021--a move that political opponents dubbed a "coup"--Sudan has been without a functioning government.

Elections were supposed to mark the conclusion of the transitional era, which began in August 2019 following the ouster of former President Omar al-Bashir, Al Jazeera reported.