Power struggle prompts fierce fighting in Sudan, death toll rises to 56

Kathmandu: At least 56 civilians have been killed in fighting between the army and a powerful paramilitary force.

The sounds of gunfire and heavy artillery reverberate across Sudan’s capital, Khartoum for a second day. Doctors say the fighting between the army and Rapid Support Forces (RSF), government’s paramilitary force, has caused many deaths.

The Sudanese Doctors’ Union reported at least 56 civilians had been killed and 595 people, including combatants, had been wounded since the fighting erupted on Saturday.

Scores of military personnel were also killed, the Union said, without giving a specific number due to a lack of first-hand information from many of the hospitals where those casualties were taken.

The heavy toll came as the power struggle between the rival forces prompted deadly clashes in the capital and other cities.

Sudan’s military launched air strikes on RSF’s base near the capital in a bid to reassert control over the country on Sunday following the deadly clashes.

Witnesses told the Reuters news agency that the sounds of heavy artillery firing across Khartoum, the adjoining city of Omdurman and nearby Bahri continued early on Sunday while an Al Jazeera television feed showed clouds of smoke billowing over the capital.

The two sides have been competing for power as political factions negotiate forming a transitional government after a 2021 military coup.

The tensions stem from a disagreement between the military, headed by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the RSF, led by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, about how the paramilitary force should be integrated into the armed forces and what authority should oversee that process.

Global powers, including the US, Russia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Nations, European Union and African Union, have appealed for an immediate end to the hostilities.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that he had spoken with the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and the UAE and said the three countries ‘agreed it was essential’ that the fighting in Sudan end.