Violent explosions rang out in Sudan’s northern city of Omdurman and plumes of smoke rose from the city centre, while 16 civilians were killed in fighting between the Sudanese army and rapid support forces in Darfur.

An Al-Jazeera reporter said that Sudanese army planes bombed Rapid Support Forces targets in the skies above the Sudanese capital (Khartoum, Khartoum North and Omdurman).

Rapid support forces responded by firing anti-aircraft guns, and artillery shelled the headquarters of the General Command of the Armed Forces and several military bases in central Khartoum and south of Omdurman.

Earlier, a military source told Al-Jazeera that rapid support marches hit military targets in the al-Wadi neighborhood and injured its ranks.

The source added that fighter jets bombarded Rapid Support Force targets in the “Bari” suburb east of Khartoum at noon today.

military operations

Meanwhile, the army’s military media reported that military forces carried out military operations targeting gatherings of Rapid Support Forces in the “Jabra” area south of Khartoum.

Pictures show military forces stationed in the “Jabra” neighborhood where the home of the Rapid Support Commander and his family is located before military operations begin.

The Darfur Bar Association said 16 civilians were killed Friday in artillery fire between the Sudanese army and Rapid Support Forces in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur.

The authority confirmed that shelling of civilian homes resulted in the exchange of artillery shells causing deaths and injuries in Al-Wahda and Karari neighborhoods.

It warned against entering the state and the city after the evacuation of Nyala’s neighborhoods, the displacement of its residents and the escalation of hostilities.

According to eyewitnesses, the town of El-Obeid, the center of North Kordoban state, witnessed clashes with heavy and light weapons, complicating the humanitarian situation on the ground.

On Saturday morning, Sudan’s military spokesman, Brigadier General Nabil Abdullah, accused the Rapid Support Force of “recruiting children between the ages of 14 and 15 in violation of international humanitarian law” in a statement.

In South Kordoban state, forces of Abdel Aziz al-Hilu’s faction “People’s Movement – North” continued their offensive the next day in “Um Burmbida” area west of the Sudanese army-held “Al Dilling” town, local sources told Al-Jazeera.

The fighting was fiercely renewed this Saturday morning, and both sides used heavy weapons, which led to the displacement of hundreds of civilians towards the towns of “Abu Karshola” in South Kordofan and “Al-Rahad” in North Kordofan State.

Experts believe that both warring sides want to expand the battlefield. Although they ended many of the fighting during talks in Jeddah mediated by the United States and Saudi Arabia, they did not last long, while the African Union and the IGAD Organization for Development in East Africa tried to mediate Sudan’s crisis.

The fighting between the army led by Abdul-Fatta al-Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces led by Muhammad Hamdan Tagalo (Hemeti) resulted in the deaths of at least 3,900 people and the displacement of more than 3 million people inside and outside the country, according to the non-governmental organization ACLIAD.