Sudan conflict: Landmark buildings burn in Khartoum as fighting breaks out | Albiseyler

CNN
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Sudan’s warring factions have traded blame for a massive fire that engulfed prominent towers in the capital Khartoum, amid fierce fighting in the conflict between the country’s armed forces and a paramilitary group.

Black smoke billowed from the Greater Nile Petroleum Oil Company’s 18-story tower on Sunday as a fire tore through the skyscraper’s glass facade.

Other towers – which house the country’s Ministry of Justice, its tax office and the Organization for Standards and Metrology – also caught fire, images and videos posted on X, formerly Twitter, by local media showed.

It was not immediately known what caused the fires or if any lives were lost.

IN declaration on Monday, the Sudanese military-controlled foreign ministry accused the paramilitary Rapid Support Force (RSF) of “targeting a number of large and important economic institutions and commercial buildings in the country” over the past two days.

RSF previously accused the Sudanese armed forces of carrying out the execution “targeted attacks in Khartoum,” which it claimed “hit critical facilities” including destroyed major buildings.

Aerial bombardment has intensified since fighting broke out between the Sudanese army and the RSF in mid-April. Some of these airstrikes hit populated areas, resulting in numerous civilian casualties.

At least 43 people were killed a week ago after an airstrike hit a market in southern Khartoum, the Sudanese doctors’ union said. he said.

Another 32 civilians were killed a few days ago in a similar attack in Omdurman, also in Khartoum.

Fighting between the Sudanese army and the RSF has left at least 5,000 dead and more than 12,000 injured, according to UN data. Peace deals brokered by the United States and Saudi Arabia have failed to end the conflict.

More than 4 million people have fled the violence across Sudan, with more than half fleeing the capital alone, according to the International Organization for Migration.