A cargo plane was bombed shortly after landing at an airport controlled by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan's Darfur region on Wednesday. Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported the incident, citing three eyewitnesses.
The airport in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur state, has been a frequent target of Sudanese army airstrikes for weeks. This attack marks a new phase in the ongoing conflict between the army and the paramilitary RSF, which began in April 2023.
Neither the army, led by Sudan's de facto ruler Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, nor the RSF, led by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, have released any information about the latest attack.
An eyewitness living near the airport told AFP, "At 5:30 AM, I saw a cargo plane land on the runway. Half an hour later, I heard an explosion and saw smoke rising." Two other eyewitnesses confirmed this account.
Additionally, many other city residents reported hearing explosions in various parts of Nyala for nearly an hour. They all spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity due to security concerns, as civilian repression has been ongoing in Nyala since the RSF established control in 2023.
Earlier last month, another cargo plane, believed to be supplying equipment for an RSF military base, was bombed while landing at Nyala airport.
Civilian Casualties Rise Amidst Indiscriminate Airstrikes
Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch (HRW) stated on Wednesday that numerous people have been killed in the city in recent months due to the army's "indiscriminate" airstrikes.
The organization reported that when the army launched a strong counter-offensive to retake territory nationwide in early February, they dropped "unguided bombs from the air" on residential and commercial areas of Nyala.
An attack on February 3, in which five bombs hit densely populated areas of the city, resulted in 32 deaths, according to the international medical charity Doctors Without Borders.
Since the war began in 2023, thousands have died, 1.3 crore (13 million) people have been displaced, creating the world's largest hunger and displacement crisis.
The conflict has effectively divided Sudan: the army controls the central, northern, and eastern regions, while the RSF holds nearly all of Darfur and, with the help of their allies, some parts of the south.