Sudanese General Abdel Fattah al Burhan military plane crashed on Tuesday on the outskirts of the capital Khartoum, near the strategically important Wadi Seidna air base, due to a technical malfunction, killing its crew, a military source said, as the army and its rival forces battle for control of the capital.
“An Antonov [specify type if known] 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 crash took place near Wadi Seidna air base — one of the army’s largest military hubs in Omdurman, part of greater Khartoum, and a key logistical hub. Residents in northern Omdurman reported a loud explosion from the crash, which also caused power outages in several surrounding neighbourhoods.
The incident comes a day after the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) claimed responsibility for downing a fighter jet in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur.
The recent escalation follows significant advances by Burhan’s 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 RSF commander Mohamed Hamadan Dagalo have been locked in a brutal power struggle.
The conflict, which has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced millions, triggering one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters in recent memory, according to the UN, erupted after a rift emerged between Burhan and Dagalo over the future structure of the government.