Smoke rising near Halfaya Bridge between Omdurman and Khartoum Bahri after battles between the army and support forces (Reuters - Archive)

The Sudanese army announced that its forces regained control of the Wad al-Bashir Bridge, linking the cities of Umbada and Omdurman, after battles with the Rapid Support Forces.

Military sources told Al Jazeera that the army set up an ambush for the support forces in the “Al-Kadro” military area, north of Bahri, and were able to destroy combat vehicles and some of them were civilian vehicles that the support commanders were exploiting.

The Rapid Support Forces announced earlier on Wednesday that they had taken control of Wad Al-Bashir Bridge.

On the other hand, the director of the Sudanese Intelligence Service, Ahmed Mufaddal, called for unifying military action between the army, the Sudanese armed movements, and the intelligence service, to inflict what he described as a terrible defeat on the Rapid Support Forces. He pledged, in front of a crowd of soldiers in the city of Shendi, in the River Nile State, north of the capital, Khartoum, that the army would regain control over all sites in the country.

A member of the Transitional Sovereignty Council in Sudan, Lieutenant General Shams al-Din al-Kabashi, who also holds the position of Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, said yesterday that the Rapid Support Forces are at their worst, while the army is on standby “to liberate a civilian and all areas and villages of the island.”

While addressing the officers, non-commissioned officers and soldiers of the Eastern Region, he added that his visit to them was “to inspect and complete the final arrangements for resolving the battle of the city of Wad Madani,” the capital of Al-Jazira State, and all regions of Sudan.

The day before yesterday, Tuesday, battles took place between the army and Rapid Support forces, as military sources told Al Jazeera that the Sudanese army bombed with heavy artillery targets belonging to the support forces in the Al-Kadro area, north of Khartoum, indicating that 9 Rapid Support combat vehicles were destroyed in the area.

During this month, the Sudanese army was able to control all of the old neighborhoods of Omdurman after a major battle that enabled it to extend its control over the radio and television buildings.

Since mid-April 2023, the Sudanese army led by Al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces led by Muhammad Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti) have been fighting battles that have left about 13,900 dead and about 8.5 million displaced and refugees, according to United Nations data. The war also pushed the poverty-stricken country to the brink of famine.

Source: Al Jazeera