Heavy fighting between the army and a rival paramilitary force broke out in the Sudanese capital on Wednesday shortly after a 72-hour truce mediated by Saudi Arabia and the US expired, according to residents.
They said Khartoum, as well as its twin cities of Bahri and Omdurman, were rocked early in the morning by heavy gunfire, artillery shelling and air strikes by low-flying jet fighters screaming overhead.
The fighting started off lightly before it quickly intensified
Imad Sheekan,
eyewitness
The army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been battling each other for supremacy since April 15, turning the Sudanese capital into a war zone, creating a major humanitarian crisis and forcing more than 2.5 million people to flee their homes.
Witnesses said army aircraft carried out air strikes in Bahri and reported artillery fire and heavy clashes in Omdurman and ground fighting in southern Khartoum.
“Air activity is very intense today across much of the city,” said Imad Sheekan, from the Shambat district in Bahri. “It has been one of the most harrowing days of the war,” he told The National.
Another resident of the capital, Noaman Ishaq, from Omdurman, said the fighting resumed about 90 minutes after the truce expired at 6am on Wednesday.
“The fighting started off lightly before it quickly intensified,” he told The National.
Late on Tuesday, the RSF claimed that army jet fighters and drones had bombed a military intelligence building its fighters have held since early in the war. There was no word from the army on the RSF claim.
The building is part of a sprawling complex near downtown Khartoum that houses the armed forces' headquarters and a presidential guesthouse.
The war between the RSF and the army is essentially a fight for supremacy between army chief Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan and his one-time ally and deputy, RSF commander Gen Mohamed Dagalo.
The war has killed at least 3,000 and injured twice as many, according to the Health Ministry. More than 2.5 million people have been displaced by the violence. Of those, more than 500,000 have fled to neighbouring countries, chiefly Egypt, Chad and South Sudan.
The war has spilt over into the troubled Darfur region in the est where the RSF and its allied Arab militias have gone on a killing, looting and torching spree in the town of Al Geneina near the border with Chad.
The fighters attacked members of the ethnic Masalit tribe in a replay of the genocidal civil war in Darfur in the 2000s, when the government and the Janjaweed militia, the RSF's forerunner, brutally crushed an uprising by ethnic Africans seeking equality with the country's mainly Muslim and Arab northern region.
Former dictator Omar Al Bashir, ousted in 2019, was indicted by the International Criminal Court more than a decade ago for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur. The Janjaweed is widely believed to have committed large-scale abuses against civilians during that war, which left 300,000 dead and 2.5 million displaced.
At least 1,100 people have been killed in the violence in Al Geneina and elsewhere in West Darfur state since the conflict began, according to activists, drawing strong international condemnation of the RSF.
RSF commander Gen Dagalo said he regretted the violence and pledged to investigate who is behind it. He also accused the army of handing out firearms to civilians in the area to sow sedition.
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The biog
Favourite hobby: I love to sing but I don’t get to sing as much nowadays sadly.
Favourite book: Anything by Sidney Sheldon.
Favourite movie: The Exorcist 2. It is a big thing in our family to sit around together and watch horror movies, I love watching them.
Favourite holiday destination: The favourite place I have been to is Florence, it is a beautiful city. My dream though has always been to visit Cyprus, I really want to go there.
Timeline
2012-2015
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
UAE v Gibraltar
What: International friendly
When: 7pm kick off
Where: Rugby Park, Dubai Sports City
Admission: Free
Online: The match will be broadcast live on Dubai Exiles’ Facebook page
UAE squad: Lucas Waddington (Dubai Exiles), Gio Fourie (Exiles), Craig Nutt (Abu Dhabi Harlequins), Phil Brady (Harlequins), Daniel Perry (Dubai Hurricanes), Esekaia Dranibota (Harlequins), Matt Mills (Exiles), Jaen Botes (Exiles), Kristian Stinson (Exiles), Murray Reason (Abu Dhabi Saracens), Dave Knight (Hurricanes), Ross Samson (Jebel Ali Dragons), DuRandt Gerber (Exiles), Saki Naisau (Dragons), Andrew Powell (Hurricanes), Emosi Vacanau (Harlequins), Niko Volavola (Dragons), Matt Richards (Dragons), Luke Stevenson (Harlequins), Josh Ives (Dubai Sports City Eagles), Sean Stevens (Saracens), Thinus Steyn (Exiles)
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
Zakat definitions
Zakat: an Arabic word meaning ‘to cleanse’ or ‘purification’.
Nisab: the minimum amount that a Muslim must have before being obliged to pay zakat. Traditionally, the nisab threshold was 87.48 grams of gold, or 612.36 grams of silver. The monetary value of the nisab therefore varies by current prices and currencies.
Zakat Al Mal: the ‘cleansing’ of wealth, as one of the five pillars of Islam; a spiritual duty for all Muslims meeting the ‘nisab’ wealth criteria in a lunar year, to pay 2.5 per cent of their wealth in alms to the deserving and needy.
Zakat Al Fitr: a donation to charity given during Ramadan, before Eid Al Fitr, in the form of food. Every adult Muslim who possesses food in excess of the needs of themselves and their family must pay two qadahs (an old measure just over 2 kilograms) of flour, wheat, barley or rice from each person in a household, as a minimum.