The Sudanese army says the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attacked a military airbase and other facilities in the vicinity of Port Sudan airport.
A spokesman for the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), Nabil Abdullah, said in a statement on Sunday that the RSF “targeted Osman Digna Air Base, a goods warehouse and some civilian facilities” with suicide drones, in the first attack in the eastern city.
There have been no reports of casualties yet, but some damage has been reported after drones hit an ammunition depot. There was no immediate comment by the RSF.
Reporting from Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan said both the civilian and military airports in Port Sudan are located in the same area.
“There is a section of the airport that is for civilian flights, but there are military flights that land in the same airport,” Morgan added, noting the exact target of the attack was not immediately clear.
Flights to and from Port Sudan, the country’s main port of entry since the start of the war in April 2023, have also been suspended until further notice, a government source told the AFP news agency.
A Sudanese passenger plane was redirected to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, after being unable to land at Port Sudan airport, according to navigation data from Flightradar24.
The data showed that the plane took off from Dubai international airport but had to change its route and make an emergency landing at King Abdulaziz airport in Jeddah. The plane performed a circular manoeuvre over the Red Sea before heading back towards the Saudi city.
“We were on the way to the plane when we were quickly evacuated and taken out of the terminal,” a traveller told AFP from the airport.
The two-year war between the SAF, headed by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the RSF under Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo has sparked a full-blown humanitarian crisis, killing tens of thousands of people and forcing more than 12 million from their homes.
The United Nations has warned that hunger has reached catastrophic levels, with famine confirmed in 10 areas of the country and 17 more at risk. Meanwhile, more than half of Sudan’s population – some 25 million people – require humanitarian assistance and protection.
The war, which put an end to Sudan’s frail democratic transition, has divided the country into two, with the army holding sway in the north and east, while the RSF controls most of Darfur and parts of the south.
The drone attack on Port Sudan indicates a shift as the eastern regions, which shelter a large number of displaced people, had so far avoided bombardment.
Home to the country’s primary airport, army headquarters and a seaport, Port Sudan had also been perceived as the safest place in Sudan. In the early days of the war, the government relocated from Khartoum to Port Sudan, and UN agencies also moved their offices and staff there.
In March, the army ousted the RSF from its last footholds in Khartoum, but the paramilitary group holds some areas in Omdurman, across the Nile River, and has consolidated its position in western Sudan, splitting the nation into rival zones.
The paramilitary group has, however, been inching closer to Khartoum again. On Thursday, it shelled the presidential palace in its second attack on the capital in less than a week.
In recent weeks, the RSF has also been doubling down on Darfur, in a bid to seize regional capital el-Fasher.
