A series of drone attacks has hit areas in Sudan’s capital, including near Khartoum international airport, a day before its long-awaited reopening, according to the AFP news agency and Sudanese media reports.
Witnesses told AFP they heard drones over central and southern Khartoum early on Tuesday. A wave of explosions was reported near the airport between 4am and 6am (02:00-04:00 GMT).
The airport has been shut since fighting erupted in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), badly damaging infrastructure.
Sudan’s Rakoba News, citing witnesses, reported more than eight blasts in and around the airport. It blamed the attack, which it said used “suicide drones “, on the RSF.
The Paris-based Sudan Tribune also reported the drone barrage, citing security sources and witnesses that saw “plumes of smoke … rising from within the airport perimeter”.
A local security source told the media outlet that Sudan’s military shot down some of the drones.
A witness told AFP that Omdurman, north of Khartoum and home to several important military installations, was also hit during the drone attack.
No group immediately claimed responsibility, and details on casualties or damage were not available.
The attacks came just a day before the Khartoum airport, heavily damaged in the conflict, was scheduled to reopen after more than two years.
The Sudan Civil Aviation Authority announced on Monday that domestic flights would gradually resume following technical and operational preparations.
While Khartoum has remained relatively calm since the army reclaimed control of the city earlier this year, drone attacks have continued, with the RSF repeatedly accused of targeting military and civilian infrastructure from afar.
Third attack in a week
Tuesday’s reported strikes mark the third spell of drone attacks on the capital in seven days.
Last week, drones targeted two army bases in northwest Khartoum, although a military official said most of the aircraft were intercepted.
Since the army’s counteroffensive and recapture of Khartoum, more than 800,000 people have returned to the capital.
The army-aligned government has since launched a wide-ranging reconstruction campaign and is moving officials back to Khartoum from Port Sudan, where they operated during the occupation of the capital by the RSF.
Large parts of Khartoum, however, remain in ruins, with millions still experiencing frequent blackouts linked to RSF drone activity.
The most intense violence is now concentrated in the west, where RSF forces have surrounded el-Fasher, the last main city in Darfur that is not under their control.
The paramilitary forces continue to try to seize the city, prompting warnings from the United Nations of the potential for further “large-scale, ethnically driven attacks and atrocities” over the past 18 months.
Should the assault succeed, the RSF would control all of Darfur and much of Sudan’s south, while the army maintains dominance over the centre, east and north.
The wider war in Sudan has killed tens of thousands, displaced nearly 12 million and created the world’s largest displacement and hunger crises.
