Travelers at Khartoum International Airport were taken by surprise early on Saturday when a Sudanese paramilitary force attempted to seize control of the facility, forcing passengers to take cover on the floor and seek safety behind their luggage.
“I was sitting inside the departure terminal when vehicles belonging to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) stormed the airport’s grounds and clashes broke out between them and soldiers based at the airport,” Ahmed Abdul-Rahman, a Sudanese traveler who was supposed to be flying to Saudi Arabia, told Middle East Eye.
“The fighting was very intense, first with light weapons then artillery was used. I saw some civilians randomly shot, then all of the civilians rushed to escape.”
Clashes erupted across several parts of the country early on Saturday when the RSF attempted to wrest control of several strategic facilities, including the presidential palace, from the military.
“We woke up this morning to the sounds of bullets and bombs around us. We were terrified,” Salma Abdo, a resident of Khartoum’s el-Daim neighborhood, told MEE.
“We are afraid of going out and we’ve been sheltering indoors since. We don’t know what’s going on outside.”
The two sides have blamed each other for the fighting, while international powers, including the US, Russia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have called for an end to hostilities.
MEE reported that shortly after the fighting erupted, the RSF, which is estimated to have around 100,000 fighters, claimed it had seized controlled of several facilities including the airport, presidential palace, the army chief’s residence in Khartoum, as well as air force bases in Merowe and el-Obeid.
“We will not stop fighting until we capture all the army bases and the honorable members of the armed forces join us,” RSF chief Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who is better known as Hemeti, told Al Jazeera.
However, army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan denied the RSF’s claims, later telling Al Jazeera that the army was in full control of the presidential palace, military headquarters and the airport.
The army later said it had carried out air strikes and “destroyed” two RSF bases in eastern and northern Khartoum.
