Sudan paramilitary says it killed hundreds of army fighters west of capital

Site of latest fighting is strategic axis linking capital, North Kordofan and White Nile state

A woman prepares meals for people affected by conflict and extreme hunger in Omdurman, Sudan. Reuters

Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces say they have killed hundreds of army soldiers and allied militiamen in fighting around a strategic axis that links the capital with North Kordofan and White Nile State.

The axis is used by Sudan's military to supply its forces in North Kordofan, where it is fighting the RSF to defend the regional capital Al Obeid – which has come under growing pressure from the paramilitary.

Maintaining control of Al Obeid is essential to the military's plans to seize western and Southern Kordofan and later move to recapture the western region of Darfur, most of which is in the hands of the RSF.

The army and the RSF have been fighting each other since April 2023. The war has devastated the vast Afro-Arab nation, killing tens of thousands, displacing more than 13 million and creating a grave humanitarian crisis that has left some 25 million people – half the population – facing acute hunger.

In a statement, the RSF said its fighters have killed at least 600 soldiers and militiamen in the fighting this week at Raheed Al Nubah and Jabrat El Sheikh. Both locations are west of Omdurman which, together with the cities of Khartoum and Bahri make up the Sudanese capital's greater region.

Sudanese women who fled intense fighting in Al Fasher, Darfur, sit at a displacement camp in Al Dabba, Sudan. Reuters

Although the fighting is about 250km from the capital, seizing the area would significantly undermine the army's situation in North Kordofan, where fierce fighting has raged this week.

There was no word from the army on the fighting west of the capital and it was not immediately possible to verify the RSF's claim of victory or the relatively high death toll in the army's ranks.

RSF video clips shared online purport to show its fighters celebrating their defeat of the army, but show only one pickup lorry with armed forces markings on its side and one motionless body on the ground.

After 29 months of fighting, the army is in control of the "tripartite" capital, as well as the eastern, northern and central regions of the country. The RSF was thrown out of the capital and the central region earlier this year, but remains in control of Darfur, except the city of El Fasher, and parts of Kordofan.

Intense fighting has been taking place in and around El Fasher for months, with the RSF slowly closing in on the local army garrison – home to the 6th Infantry Division – but unable to seize it due to stiff resistance by the troops and their allies.

Al Shafie Ahmed reported from Kampala, Uganda