PORT SUDAN: A Sudanese military aircraft crashed on the outskirts of Khartoum, the country’s capital, killing all crew members on board, a military source reported with a medical source confirming that at least five civilians on the ground also lost their lives in the incident.
“An Antonov aircraft crashed, killing a number of officers who were on board,” the source told AFP on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media.
The source said a technical malfunction was behind the crash.
The crash took place near Wadi Seidna air base – one of the army’s largest military hubs in Omdurman, part of greater Khartoum.
A medical source at Al-Nao Hospital in Omdurman told AFP on condition of anonymity for their safety that five dead civilians and several injured people who were on the ground were brought to the facility following the crash.
Witnesses reported damage to several homes in the neighbourhood where the plane came down.
Residents in northern Omdurman reported a loud explosion from the crash, which also caused power outages in several surrounding neighbourhoods.
A witness said the plane was flying southbound from northern Sudan when it crashed near the base, which houses a military airport.
The incident comes a day after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) claimed responsibility for downing a fighter jet in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur.
In a statement sent to the media, the RSF said it shot down a Russian-made Ilyushin plane early on Monday morning, alleging that the plane was destroyed with its crew on board.
The recent escalation follows significant advances by the army in central Sudan and the capital Khartoum in its multi-front offensive against the RSF.
Since April 2023, army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy and RSF commander Mohamed Hamadan Daglo, once allies, have been locked in a brutal power struggle.
The conflict, which has claimed tens of thousands of lives, erupted after a rift emerged between Burhan and Daglo over the future structure of the government.
The conflict has triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters in recent memory, according to the UN.