Fire breaks out at Khartoum airport amid Sudan clashes

KHARTOUM, Sudan

A huge fire broke out at Khartoum airport on Wednesday amid clashes between the Sudanese army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), according to witnesses.

The fire erupted after an artillery shell struck aircraft fuel tanks at the airport, causing an explosion, they said.

"The explosion was huge. There are no firefighting teams to extinguish the blaze,” an eyewitness told Anadolu.

There was no comment yet from the airport authorities on the incident.

At least 270 people have been killed and 2,600 others injured in armed clashes between the army and the RSF fighters since Saturday in Khartoum and its surrounding areas, according to the Health Ministry.

While the RSF accused the army of attacking its forces south of Khartoum with light and heavy weapons, the military said the paramilitary force was "spreading lies" and declared it a "rebel" group.

A disagreement between the two military rivals regarding military and security reform, which envisages the full participation of the RSF in the army, has turned into a hot conflict in the last few months.

The dispute between the two sides came to the surface last week, when the army said recent movements by the RSF had occurred without coordination and were illegal.

Sudan has been without a functioning government since October 2021, when the military dismissed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok’s transitional government and declared a state of emergency in a move decried by political forces as a “coup.”

Sudan’s transitional period, which started in August 2019, was scheduled to end with elections in early 2024.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi