Sudan crisis: Fighting escalates in Khartoum in 6th month

Sudan's paramilitary forces have attacked the army headquarters in Khartoum, according to reports Sunday.

City residents told the AFP news agency they heard "huge bangs" in the capital. A fire also broke out in Khartoum's landmark Greater Nile Petroleum Oil Company Tower.

Posts on social media show the skyscraper in flames. But it is unclear how the fighting started, Sudanese media said it was the result of fighting between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Posts showed other buildings smoldering. The buildings had bullet holes in the walls and windows. Witnesses reported fighting in the city of El Obeid, which lies some 350 kilometers (220 miles) south of the capital, AFP reported.

A resident told AFP that fighting between the army and the RSF appeared to have flared once again over the weekend.

An airstrike on an open market in Khartoum last weekend killed at least 40 civilians too, according to activists and medical workers.

The latest escalation comes as world leaders make their way to New York City to attend the UN General Assembly.

What to know about the fighting in Sudan

Sudan has been gripped by fighting by factions opposed to one another — the Sudanese army led by Abdel Fattah al-Burha and the RSF led by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.

The fighting first broke out in April, after the relationship between the two broke down during discussions to integrate the RSF into the country's military and to pave the way for civilian rule.

Some 7,500 people have been killed in the fighting, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project. Aid groups put the toll much higher, since many of those injured or killed never make it to the hospitals.

The fighting has also displaced millions of people, according to the United Nations. Efforts by Sudan's neighbors as well as the US and Saudi Arabia to resolve the situation has so far failed.

rm/sms (AFP, AP)