Fighting rocks Sudan capital as regular army battles paramilitaries

KHARTOUM - Explosions rocked the Sudanese capital on Saturday as paramilitaries and the regular army traded attacks on each other's bases, days after the army warned the country was at a "dangerous" turning point.

The eruption of violence came after weeks of deepening tensions between military leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his number two, paramilitary commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, over the planned integration of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) into the regular army.

Witnesses reported "confrontations" and loud explosions and gunfire near an RSF base in south Khartoum.

The RSF said its forces had taken control of Khartoum airport, after witnesses reported seeing truckloads of fighters entering the airport compound.

AFP reporters heard gunfire near the airport, as well near Burhan's residence and in Khartoum North. Civilians were seen running for cover as artillery exchanges rocked the streets.

The two sides traded blame for starting the fighting.

"The Rapid Support Forces were surprised Saturday with a large force from the army entering camps in Soba in Khartoum and laying siege to paramilitaries there," it said in a statement. 

It said a "sweeping attack with all kinds of heavy and light weapons" was under way.

The RSF said its fighters had also taken control of the airport in Merowe, north of Khartoum.

The army blamed the paramilitaries for the heavy fighting.

"Fighters from the Rapid Support Forces attacked several army camps in Khartoum and elsewhere around Sudan," army spokesman Brigadier General Nabil Abdallah told AFP. 

"Clashes are ongoing and the army is carrying out its duty to safeguard the country."