Sudan army retakes Khartoum airport from paramilitaries

The Sudanese army yesterday recaptured Khartoum airport from the Rapid Support Forces, an army source told AFP, while troops surrounded the paramilitaries' last major holdout position south of the city.

The army, battling the RSF since April 2023, "fully secured" the airport in central Khartoum from RSF fighters stationed inside, the source said, requesting anonymity because he is not authorised to brief the media.

Following their recapture of the presidential palace in a key victory on Friday, army troops have surged through central Khartoum, seizing state institutions captured early in the war by the RSF, before heading south.

"In the south of the capital, our forces have surrounded the strategic Jebel Awliya area from three directions: north, south and east," the source said, adding that "all axes are advancing steadily".

The Jebel Awliya bridge, which crosses the White Nile south of the city centre, is the only crossing out of the area still under RSF control, linking the paramilitary group to its strongholds in the western Darfur region.