Sudanese military aircraft crashes in Omdurman, killing at least 19

Cairo: A Sudanese military aircraft crashed in the city of Omdurman, killing at least 19 people, military and health officials said on Wednesday. The Antonov aircraft crashed Tuesday while taking off from the Wadi Sayidna airbase north of Omdurman, the military said in a terse statement. Omdurman is the sister city of the capital, Khartoum. The military said military personnel and civilians were killed in the crash but didn't disclose how many. It didn't say what caused the crash. The health ministry, however, said at least 19 people were killed, whose bodies were transferred to the Nau in Omdurman. The hospital also received five injured civilians including two young siblings.

Sudan has been in a state of civil war since 2023 when tensions between the military and a notorious paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces, exploded into open warfare. The fighting has wrecked urban areas and has been marked by atrocities including mass rape and ethnically motivated killings that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, especially in the western region of Darfur, according to the United Nations and international rights groups. The war has intensified in recent months with the military making steady advances against the RSF in Khartoum and elsewhere in the country. The RSF, which controls most of the western region of Darfur, said it downed a military aircraft on Monday in Nyala, the provincial capital of South Darfur province.