Drones targeted the airport and an army base in Sudan’s wartime capital Port Sudan on Tuesday, airport and security officials said, the third straight day the army-aligned government’s seat of power has come under attack.
One drone “targeted the civilian section of the Port Sudan airport,” the country’s main port of entry, two days after the airport’s military base was first attacked by drone strikes the army blamed on rival Rapid Support Forces.
An army source told AFP another drone targeted the main army base in the center of the city, where witnesses said a hotel was also struck.
Both the army base and the hotel lie close to the residence of army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who since April 2023 has been at war with his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the RSF.
A third drone struck “a fuel depot near the southern port,” in the densely populated city center, where the United Nations, international agencies, and hundreds of thousands of people have relocated from the capital Khartoum.
The RSF has increasingly relied on drones since losing territory including nearly all of Khartoum in March, attacking deep into army-held territory.
Explosions were heard early in the morning across Port Sudan, which had previously been considered a safe haven.
An AFP correspondent reported loud explosions at dawn and plumes of smoke over the city, one coming from the direction of the port and another from a fuel depot just south, where massive fires have been ranging since Monday following another drone strike.
Since it began, the war has killed tens of thousands, uprooted 13 million, and created the world’s largest hunger and displacement crises.
