The Sudanese army recaptured Khartoum airport from the paramilitary formations

The Sudanese army has announced that it has recaptured Khartoum Airport from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and surrounded the paramilitary formations south of the capital on Wednesday, AFP reports, UNN writes.

Details

The army, which has been fighting the RSF since April 2023, has "completely cleared" the airport of paramilitary fighters who were inside, its spokesman Nabil Abdalla told AFP.

The capture came a day after the army was accused of one of the deadliest air strikes of the war, which killed at least 270 people at a market in the western Darfur region, according to eyewitnesses.

After retaking the presidential palace on Friday, the army stormed into the center of Khartoum, seizing government buildings seized by RSF forces earlier in the war.

Sudan army advances in central Khartoum after retaking palace22.03.2025, 14:30 • 37927 views

"In the south of the capital, our forces have surrounded the strategic Jebel Awlia area from three directions: north, south and east," a military source told AFP, adding that they were "steadily advancing in all directions."

"Remnants of the RSF militia are fleeing" across the White Nile via the Jebel Awlia bridge, he said.

The bridge is the only one through which paramilitary formations leave the area, connecting them to positions west of the city and then to strongholds in Darfur.

This week, eyewitnesses and activists reported that RSF fighters in Khartoum were retreating south, allegedly towards Jebel Awlia.

The RSF did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Addition

Since April 2023, the war has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people, displaced more than 12 million and created the world's largest hunger and displacement crises.

It has also divided the country in two: the army holds the east and north, while the RSF controls almost all of Darfur and parts of the south.

According to the UN, more than 3.5 million people have been forced to flee the war-torn capital.

The United States has imposed sanctions on both army commander Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, accusing the latter specifically of genocide in Darfur.

On Tuesday, the United Nations expressed grave concern over "continued attacks on civilians" across the country, including Monday's airstrike on the town of Tora in North Darfur and the RSF's shelling of a mosque in Khartoum on Sunday.

Analysts warn of the RSF's practice of attacking civilians as retaliation, while the army is accused of allowing its allied factions to harass civilians believed to have cooperated with the RSF.