Sudanese Army has claimed seizing control of the main headquarters of the country’s central bank from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) as it continues to make advances in the capital Khartoum.
Nabil Abdallah, an army spokesman, said in a statement to the AFP news agency on Saturday that the soldiers had “eliminated hundreds of militia members who tried to escape through pockets in central Khartoum”.
The bank’s takeover comes a day after the army seized control of the presidential palace in a significant military victory.
But the RSF retaliated to Friday’s takeover with a drone attack that killed three journalists and several army personnel.
Army sources said that RSF fighters on Friday fled into buildings in al-Mogran, an area west of the palace housing banks and business headquarters.
In the area, paramilitary forces posted snipers in high-rises that overlook the city of Omdurman across the Nile River and the ministries in central Khartoum.
However, the battle for the government and the financial district could strengthen the army’s hold on the capital and give it a significant advantage in the conflict.
Reporting from Khartoum, Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan said the army had been making “steady gains” in the past few months.
“They’ve been taking ground from the Rapid Support Forces in the northern part of the capital, in the eastern part of the capital, but there are still areas where the RSF are present and these are specifically around the western part of the country,” Morgan said.
“Effectively, where this leaves Sudan right now is divided into two, with the army controlling the eastern, northern and parts of the southeast, and the RSF controlling the western and southwestern parts of the country,” she added.
Since April 2023, the military, led by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, has been in an ongoing conflict with the RSF, headed by Burhan’s former deputy commander, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.
But the two-year-long conflict has left the country in a deep humanitarian crisis, with tens of thousands of people killed and more than 12 million people displaced.
