Sudan army air strike kills at least 22 in Omdurman
A Sudanese army air strike has killed at least 22 people in western Omdurman, the Khartoum state health ministry said on Saturday, as the country's war entered its 85th day.
Khartoum's twin city, Omdurman has in recent days been the focus of fighting between the army and its enemy, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The western part of the city is a key supply route for the RSF, which brings in reinforcements to the capital's metropolitan area from its power base in Darfur, in western Sudan.
While the federal health ministry has said that hundreds of people have died in Sudan's conflict, which began on 15 April, the real figure is believed to be far higher.
In Khartoum and its sister cities, Omdurman and Bahri, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) have rained down air and artillery strikes, while the RSF has dominated on the ground, moving to control large parts of the city.
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Sudanese and western military sources have told Middle East Eye that the RSF at present holds the upper hand in the war, with the SAF struggling in street battles and unable to make its domination of the air count.
Since Friday night, the army's strikes have also focused on the state broadcasting complex east of Omdurman. Other overnight strikes hit southern and eastern Khartoum.
The army said in a post on Facebook that special forces had killed 20 "rebel soldiers" and destroyed their weaponry.
Outside Khartoum, fighting is ongoing in Darfur and Kordofan, where the RSF is besieging the strategically vital city of el-Obeid. Residents of the city told Middle East Eye last week that they were running out of water, food, fuel and other vital supplies.
Eyewitnesses, medics and aid workers told MEE last month that hundreds of bodies, most of them civilian, had been left decomposing in el-Geneina, the capital of West Darfur.
More than 2.9 million Sudanese have been internally displaced, including nearly 700,000 who have been forced to flee to neighbouring countries.
There has also been reports of "alarming numbers" of rape, sexual assault and abduction of women and girls, some as young as 12, by fighters, according to aid agencies.
Save the Children said on Friday that at least 88 cases of rape have been verified since the conflict started.
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