A Saudi Airlines plane was shot at Khartoum International Airport on Saturday as it was preparing to take off for Riyadh, but the crew and passengers on board were evacuated and are safe, according to the airline.
In a statement, Saudi Airlines said the crew is at the Saudi embassy in Sudan and the passengers are doing well, while the company ordered all planes bound for Sudan to return to origin due to the clashes the morning between the Sudanese Army and the Rapid Support Armed Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group.
The shooting against the aircraft took place at 07:00 local time (06:00 in Lisbon), two hours before the start of the fighting between the opposing forces.
The president of the Sovereign Council of Sudan and leader of the Armed Forces, General Abdelfatah al Burhan, said today in an interview with the television channel Al Jazeera that “the Rapid Support Forces infiltrated the airport and burned some planes”, without Specify the companies affected. . .
The Egyptian airline Egyptair also announced on Twitter that it will temporarily suspend its flights to Khartoum, starting today and for 72 hours, due to the “unstable security situation in Sudan.”
At mid-morning today, the RSF claimed to control Khartoum international airport, the largest in Sudan, information that was denied by Al Burhan, who added that the Army had the situation in the capital “under control”.
These clashes come two days after the Army warned that the country is going through a “dangerous situation” that could lead to an armed conflict, following the mobilization of RSF in the Sudanese capital and in other cities without the consent or coordination of the Armed Forces. .
This mobilization occurred during the negotiations to reach a definitive political agreement that would put an end to the 2021 coup and lead Sudan to a democratic transition, a pact whose signing was postponed twice this month precisely due to tensions and rivalries between the Army and the RSFs. .
Source: TSF
