A strategic Nile bridge in the Sudanese capital Khartoum has collapsed, the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) said in separate statements Saturday, trading blame for its destruction.
Since April, forces loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan — Sudan’s de facto head of state — have been at war with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commanded by his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.
Witnesses reported “clear signs of destruction on the Shambat Bridge” which crosses the White Nile and connects Khartoum’s sister cities of Khartoum North and Omdurman.
Images posted online showed a section of the bridge about halfway across the river had disappeared. Vehicles, apparently damaged, lay on the part of the bridge still standing.
The army said in a statement that “the militia destroyed the Shambat Bridge early this morning… adding a new crime to their record.”
The paramilitary force denied the accusation.
In a statement, the RSF charged that “the Burhan terrorist militia… destroyed the Shambat Bridge this morning, thinking that they could defeat our brave forces.”
Intense fighting took place over the week in Khartoum and its surrounding areas, as well as the western region of Darfur, where some of the bloodiest clashes have taken place.
On Thursday, witnesses told AFP that corpses in military uniforms lined the streets of a district of Khartoum, while a shell hit Al-Nau hospital in the north of Omdurman, the last operational medical facility in the area, killing an employee.