Fighting in the Sudanese capital raged into the early hours of Sunday after a day of deadly battles between paramilitaries and the regular army that left at least 27 people dead and 170 wounded.
The army denied the claims, and in a statement late Saturday, the Sudanese air force urged people to stay indoors as it continued air strikes against bases of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Fighter jets were earlier seen flying overhead.
Windows rattled and apartment buildings shook in many parts of Khartoum during the clashes, according to AFP correspondents, with explosions heard early Sunday.
The doctors’ union said at least 27 people were killed including two at Khartoum airport and the rest in others parts of Sudan.
Around 170 others were wounded in the clashes, it added in a statement early Sunday.
Saudi Arabia’s flag carrier Saudia said one of its planes, with passengers and crew aboard waiting for departure, was “exposed to gunfire damage”.
Bakry, 24, who works in marketing, said Khartoum residents had “never seen anything like” this unrest, which left dark smoke hanging over the capital.
“People were terrified and running back home. The streets emptied very quickly”, said Bakry, who gave only a first name.
Violence erupted after weeks of deepening tensions between military leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy, paramilitary commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, over the planned integration of Daglo’s RSF into the regular army.
The integration was a key element of talks to finalise a deal that would return the country to civilian rule and end the political-economic crisis sparked by the military’s 2021 coup.
Created in 2013, the RSF emerged from the Janjaweed militia that then-president Omar al-Bashir unleashed against non-Arab ethnic minorities in the western Darfur region a decade earlier, drawing accusations of war crimes.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for “an immediate cessation of hostilities” and discussed ways to de-escalate with the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and African Union Commission Chair Moussa Faki.
He also spoke with Burhan and Daglo urging them “to return to dialogue.”
The Arab League, following a request by Egypt and Saudi Arabia, is scheduled to hold an urgent meeting Sunday to discuss the situation in Sudan.
In a joint call, the Saudi and United Arab Emirates foreign ministers, along with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, emphasised “the importance of stopping the military escalation”, the Saudi ministry said.
