Paramilitaries carry out drone attack on Red Sea port city, Sudan's army says

CAIRO — Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces launched a drone attack Sunday targeting a military airbase and civilian facilities in the coastal city of Port Sudan, the military said.

No casualties were reported in what is the first known attack by the Rapid Support Forces on the Red Sea city. Port Sudan has served as an interim seat for the government since the war between the military and the RSF paramilitary group started more than two years ago.

Brig. Gen. Nabil Abdullah, a spokesman for the Sudanese military, said RSF drones hit an ammunition warehouse in the Osman Digna airbase, causing explosions. The attack also hit a cargo warehouse and civilian installations, he said in a statement.

Video footage posted on social media appeared to show plumes of thick smoke rising above the airbase.

The attack briefly halted air traffic at Port Sudan's airport, according to the Sudanese civil aviation authority.

The city's airport has been the country's entry point since the RSF occupied the Khartoum international airport at the start of the war. The miliary retook the capital's airport earlier this year but the facility has yet to be functional.

There was no immediate comment from the RSF.

The rebel group has stepped up its drone attacks on civilian facilities in military held areas in Sudan. Last month, the paramilitaries hit a major power plant in Atbara, a railway city, north of Khartoum.

The drone attacks came after the military re-took Khartoum earlier this year, pushing the RSF to their stronghold in the western region of Darfur.

As the military consolidated its positions in the capital, the RSF advanced in other areas in the county's peripheries, capturing Sudan's largest camp for displaced people in North Darfur and a key town in West Kordofan province.

Activists accused the RSF of committing atrocities, including street killing and rape, in the two areas where hundreds of people were reported killed.

Sudan's ongoing war broke out on April 15, 2023 after simmering tensions between the military and the RSF exploded into open warfare across the country.

Since then, at least 24,000 people have been killed, though the number is likely far higher. The war has driven about 13 million people from their homes, including 4 million who crossed into neighboring countries. It also pushed parts of the country into famine.

The fighting has been marked by atrocities including mass rape and ethnically motivated killings that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, especially in Darfur, according to the U.N. and international rights groups.