The Sudanese army said it has wrested back full control of the capital Khartoum, capping a weeklong offensive that saw it recapture the presidential palace, the airport, and other key sites in a decisive push against rival paramilitaries.
"Our forces today have successfully and forcibly cleansed the last pockets of the remnants of the Daglo terrorist militia in Khartoum locality," army spokesman Nabil Abdullah said in a statement late Thursday, March 28, using the government's term for the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which have been battling the military since April 2023.
From inside the recaptured presidential palace, Sudan's army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan had on Wednesday declared the capital "free" from the RSF.
Following a year and a half of defeats at the hands of the RSF, the army began pushing through central Sudan towards Khartoum late last year. Since the army recaptured the presidential palace on Friday, March 21, witnesses and activists have reported RSF fighters in retreat across the capital.
An army source told AFP on Wednesday that RSF fighters were fleeing across the Jebel Awliya bridge, their only route out of greater Khartoum. The RSF, however, vowed there would be "no retreat and no surrender," saying its forces had only repositioned.
"We will deliver crushing defeats to the enemy on all fronts," it said in a statement.
The war has killed tens of thousands and displaced more than 12 million, according to the UN. While the army holds the north and east, the RSF controls much of the south and nearly all of Darfur.