Sudan fighting enters 3rd week as weapons are heard in the capital

The sound of airstrikes, anti-aircraft fire and artillery could be heard in Khartoum early Saturday and dark smoke rose over parts of the city, as fighting in Sudan entered its third week.

Fighting between the army and rival paramilitary forces continued despite the announcement of a 72-hour ceasefire extension on Friday, as airstrikes, tanks and artillery rocked Khartoum and the towns of Bahri and Ombdurman.

Hundreds have been killed and tens of thousands have fled for their lives in a power struggle between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) that erupted into violence on April 15, disrupting the internationally-backed transition to democratic elections.

The fighting also sparked a two-decade-old conflict in the western Darfur region where scores have been killed this week.

In Darfur, at least 96 people have been killed since Monday in inter-communal violence renewed by the army-RSF conflict, UN human rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said.

Residents are interrupted by urban warfare

The army has deployed jets or drones on RSF forces in neighborhoods in the capital. Many residents are oppressed by the city’s war on food, fuel, water and power.

At least 512 people have been killed and close to 4,200 injured, according to the United Nations, which believes the actual death toll is higher.

More than 75,000 people have been displaced in Sudan in just the first week of the war, according to the United Nations. Only 16 percent of hospitals are operating as usual in the capital.

WATCH | Unraveling how external forces contributed to Sudan’s conflict:

The latest ceasefire, brokered by a foreign power, was supposed to last until Sunday midnight.

The RSF accused the army of violating airstrikes on its bases in Omdurman, Khartoum’s sister city at the confluence of the Blue and White Nile rivers, and Mount Awliya.

The army blamed the RSF for the breach.

Tens of thousands of refugees

The violence has sent tens of thousands of refugees across the Sudanese border and threatens to destabilize the African region between the Sahel and the Red Sea.

Foreign governments have evacuated diplomats and citizens safely over the past week, including by air. Britain said the evacuation would end on Saturday as demand for places on planes had fallen.

The US says several hundred Americans have left Sudan by land, sea or air. A bus convoy carrying 300 Americans left Khartoum on Friday on a 850-kilometer journey to the Red Sea in a US-organized evacuation effort for residents, the New York Times reported.

A total of 230 Indian nationals were reported to have safely left the country for New Delhi on Saturday.

Iran’s foreign ministry said on Saturday 65 Iranians had left Port Sudan, via Jeddah, for Iran.

Two more Canadian planes left Khartoum on Friday, transporting some of the 1,700 Canadians living in Sudan, following the first Canadian airlift on Thursday.