Sudan: At least 22 killed, several injured after air strike on Omdurman

At least 22 people were killed and several others were injured after an airstrike on western Omdurman, said the Khartoum state health ministry, on Saturday (July 8). This comes as the fighting between the rival factions, Sudan’s army and its paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) entered its 12th week.

What do we know about the airstrike?

The airstrike which hit the Dar es Salaam district of Omdurmanearly Saturday, is said to be one of the deadliest since the fighting began back in mid-April. This comes after last month an airstrike killed at least 17 people, including five children in the Sudanese capital city of Khartoum.

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The RSF has blamed the Sudanese army for the airstrike on Saturday and other strikes on residential areas in Omdurman. The Khartoum state health officials,in a brief statement, said that at least 22 people were killed due to the airstrike while the RSF said the death toll stood at 31. However, the number of those injured was not mentioned by either the RSF or the health ministry.

In a statement, the RSF also said that the strike had “caused significant destruction to homes”. Notably, the paramilitary, reportedly, quickly took over the Sudanese capital city Khartoum and its sister cities Omdurman and Bahri since the fighting broke out on April 15.The army has since launched air and artillery strikes, reported Reuters.

The news agency also reported overnight strikes on Friday which centred on the country’s state broadcasting complex in eastern Omdurman.

The health ministry also posted a video supposedly showing the aftermath of the airstrike which shows dead bodies on the ground with sheets covering them aspeople tryto pull the dead from the rubble, reported the Associated Press.

Meanwhile, a BBC report citing eyewitnessessaid that women and children were among the victims.

Situation in Sudan

Following the failure of multiple mediation efforts, the conflict between the warringhead of the Sudanese army, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the chief of the RSF, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, drags on.

At least 1,133 people have been killed in the fighting, said the federal health ministry, as per Reuters. This comes as the violence has flared in the capital as well as Kordofan and Darfur regions, in addition to ethnic violence in West Darfur state.

Last month, Sudan's Health Minister Haitham Mohammed Ibrahim said that the clashes have killed over 3,000 people and wounded more than 6,000 others, reported AP.

Meanwhile, according to the United Nations, more than 2.9 million people have been displaced either in Sudan or crossed into neighbouring countries.

The incident on Saturday also comes a day after international aid organisation, Save the Children, in a statement, said that teenage girls are being sexually assaulted and raped by armed combatants in “alarming numbers”.

The United Nations agencies in a joint statement, last week also noted an “increase in reports of gender-based violence” across the country.

(With inputs from agencies)

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