Jeddah: Tuesday saw intense fighting spread throughout Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, as machinegun and artillery fire shook the city and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces shot down a fighter jet belonging to the Sudanese army.
One resident of northern Khartoum remarked, "We saw pilots jumping with parachutes as the plane plunged to the ground."
The paramilitaries claimed they "arrested the pilot after he landed with a parachute," and they charged the regular army with committing "heinous massacres" in the greater Khartoum area.
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Across the river from Khartoum's city centre, in Omdurman, residents reported witnessing "heavy clashes using various types of weapons."
Others witnessed airstrikes close to the state television facility, where paramilitaries had earlier this week launched an attack and Tuesday fired anti-aircraft weapons.
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Since April 15, the armed forces under the command of Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan have been at war with paramilitaries under the command of his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. This bloody conflict has resulted in the deaths of nearly 3,000 people, forced the displacement of millions, and sparked ethnic killings in the western region of Darfur. It has also threatened to turn into a protracted civil war.
As the conflict grew worse, the paramilitaries quickly seized control of large portions of the capital and transferred additional fighters across bridges from Omdurman to Bahri and Khartoum, the other two cities that make up the larger capital across the confluence of the River Nile.
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Medical professionals caution that the number of fatalities and injuries is likely much higher than reported figures because many victims were unable to access hospitals because two-thirds of them are inoperable. A total of 645,000 Sudanese have fled across borders in addition to the 2.2 million who have been internally displaced.