Plumes of smoke rise from a site that was previously bombed south of Khartoum (French)

Local military sources reported to Al Jazeera that violent battles broke out between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces in southwestern Sudan, while the Sudanese army condemned the European Union imposing sanctions on 3 Sudanese institutions.

The sources said that the city of Babanusa in southwestern Sudan witnessed battles between the two sides, adding that the Rapid Support Forces bombed the headquarters of the army's "22nd Division", which was able to shoot down a Rapid Support drone.

The sources indicated that the army's warplanes carried out air sorties targeting rapid support gatherings at the entrance to the city of Babanusa. The sources explained that the army was able to repel a ground attack accompanied by drone bombardment on the army headquarters in Babanusa.

On the other hand, the Sudanese army condemned in a statement that the European Union imposed sanctions yesterday on 3 Sudanese national economic institutions that it claimed, along with 3 companies affiliated with Rapid Support, on charges of “supporting activities that undermine stability and political transition in Sudan.”

The statement said, "The unfair decision was based on an equality that lacks the slightest foundations of objectivity and fairness between the national army, which defends the Sudanese people, their independence, and their dignity, and a terrorist militia that includes tens of thousands of mercenaries that commits crimes of genocide."

He added that the European Union was expected "to bear its political and moral responsibilities towards international and regional peace by pressuring those to stop providing weapons, mercenaries, financing and media support to the terrorist militia, but instead it chose to hide behind the pretext of neutrality between what it calls "two warring parties."

The ongoing fighting in Sudan left more than 13,000 dead and about 26,000 injured, and caused about 7.6 million people to flee their homes and seek refuge inside and outside Sudan, according to the United Nations, where 6.1 million people were displaced inside the country, while about 1.5 million people crossed into countries. Neighboring.

Source: Al Jazeera