At least 10 military personnel and journalists were killed in a drone attack targeting a military and media gathering inside the Republican Palace in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, according to a military source.
“A suicide drone attacked the outer courtyard of the palace, killing approximately 10 military personnel and journalists,” the military source told Xinhua news agency on the condition of anonymity.
An eyewitness said the drone launched about two projectiles into the outer courtyard of the palace when “soldiers of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) were celebrating the takeover of the palace, and a Sudan TV team was covering the event.”
Another eyewitness told Xinhua that among the casualties were two military media officers, several soldiers from the SAF’s moral guidance division, and three members of the official Sudan TV, with the death toll expected to rise.
The incident came after the SAF reportedly regained control of the Republican Palace, or the presidential palace, on Friday, which had been held by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since mid-April 2023.
Later on Friday, the RSF vowed in a statement that the battle for the palace is “not over yet,” stressing that its forces remain in the vicinity and continue to fight.
The RSF also claimed it had carried out a military operation inside the palace, killing 89 army personnel and destroying various military vehicles.
Sudan has been embroiled in a devastating conflict between the SAF and the RSF since mid-April 2023, which has claimed almost 30,000 lives, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data, a crisis monitoring group cited by the United Nations.
The conflict has also displaced more than 15 million people, both inside and outside Sudan, according to estimates by the International Organisation for Migration.
(Inputs from IANS)
