Last Update: April 21, 2023, 00:28 AM IST
Smoke is seen rising from a neighborhood in Khartoum, Sudan, on April 15, 2023. (Image: AP)
More than 300 people have been killed since clashes broke out on Saturday between Sudan’s army chief and forces loyal to his deputy.
The United States is deploying troops to East Africa if the evacuation of US embassy staff in Sudan, battling rival factions in Khartoum, becomes necessary, officials said Thursday.
“We are deploying additional capabilities around the region for contingency purposes related to securing and potentially facilitating the departure of US embassy personnel from Sudan,” the Pentagon said in a statement.
More than 300 people have been killed in fighting that began on Saturday between forces loyal to Sudan’s army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy in command of the paramilitary Rapid Support Force (RSF), Mohammed Hamdan Daglo.
There has been some of the fiercest fighting in the capital, Khartoum, where half a million people live, most of whom are locked in their homes without electricity, food and water.
A US official later said on condition of anonymity that additional US forces would be deployed to the East African country of Djibouti.
The RSF, a powerful group made up of members of the Janjaweed militia that has led years of extreme violence in Darfur, said its forces would be “fully committed” to a 24-hour ceasefire from Wednesday evening, as was the army .
But witnesses said the shelling in Khartoum did not stop, as another ceasefire was violated within minutes of its start for the second time in as many days.
Beyond Khartoum, witnesses reported loud explosions in the city of Obeid in the central state of North Kordofan.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)
