Khartoum, March 22 (IANS) The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) on Saturday announced that it had taken control of new strategic sites in the capital Khartoum.
“Our forces in central Khartoum continue to pressure the militia and have taken control of the Corinthia Hotel and the Strategic Facilities Administration,” SAF spokesman Nabil Abdalla said in a statement.
“The headquarters of the National Intelligence Service have also been cleared, while militia members are desperately trying to flee from our forces everywhere at this moment,” he said.
It added that the army has also tightened control over key locations in central Khartoum, including the Zain Tower, the Central Bank of Sudan, the Sahel and Sahara Bank Tower, the Cooperative Tower, Bayan College, the National Museum, Sudan University of Science and Technology, and the Friendship Hall.
On Friday, the Sudanese army announced that it had taken control of the presidential palace and government headquarters in central Khartoum.
The SAF forces “managed to crush the remnants of the militia in the central areas of Khartoum, including the Al Souq Al-Arabi Market, the Republican Palace buildings and the ministries,” Abdalla announced in a televised statement.
“Our forces have completely destroyed the enemy’s personnel and equipment and seized large quantities of its equipment and weapons in the mentioned areas,” he said.
The battle for the palace intensified over the past few days, with the SAF deploying warplanes and drones against RSF fighters entrenched in high-rise buildings and government institutions, Xinhua news agency reported. Heavy artillery and airstrikes caused extensive damage, with activists sharing footage of fires raging in central Khartoum.
Since February, the Sudanese army has reclaimed most of Khartoum, with the RSF holding only a few strongholds, including the Jabal Awliya area in the south, home to a major dam.
Sudan has been embroiled in conflict between the SAF and RSF since mid-April 2023, with almost 30,000 lives lost, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project cited by the United Nations.
–IANS
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