Shoppers killed as Khartoum air strikes hit busy market

Sudanese army air strikes have killed at least 23 people and injured more than 40 others in the south of the capital, Khartoum.

Saturday’s airstrikes targeted the main camp occupied by paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in southern Khartoum, hitting the central market and a nearby residential area.

Traders, shoppers and local residents were among the victims.

The RSF have been battling the military in an 18-month civil war that has claimed up to 150,000 lives, and displaced a fifth of Sudan’s population according to UN estimates.

The wounded are being treated in hospital, according to a spokesman from the Nobel Prize-nominated rescue network, Emergency Response Rooms.

Emergency responders report that hospitals are overwhelmed by the number of injured.

Since Friday, fierce fighting has escalated around Khartoum, largely controlled by the RSF, with the military intensifying airstrikes in the city’s centre and southern belt.

Witnesses say the army is advancing towards Khartoum from nearby Omdurman, where clashes erupted on Saturday.

Earlier this week, the Sudanese government presented the UN security council with what it called new evidence that the United Arab Emirates is arming and supporting the RSF, and called for action against the Gulf state.

The UAE has long denied that it is backing the RSF.

Both the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces have been accused of committing atrocities.

“Relentless hostilities across the country have brought misery to millions of civilians, triggering the world’s fastest-growing displacement crisis,” warned the UN last month.

It says Sudan is now “the world’s largest hunger crisis”.

Additional reporting by Natasha Booty and BBC Monitoring