(Reuters) -Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces said on Sunday they had captured the army headquarters in the city of al-Fashir, the Sudanese army’s last stronghold in the Darfur region in the west of the country.
The army did not immediately give a statement on its current position.
The RSF has besieged the city, the capital of North Darfur state, for the past 18 months as it fights the army and allied former rebels and local fighters. It has targeted civilians in frequent drone and artillery strikes, while the siege has spread starvation among the city where 250,000 people remain.
Al-Fashir would be a significant political victory for the RSF and could hasten a physical split of the country by enabling the paramilitary group to consolidate its control over the vast Darfur region, which it has identified as the base for a parallel government established this summer.
Activists have long warned that an RSF takeover of the city would also lead to ethnic attacks, as seen after the capture of the Zamzam camp to the south.
Last week, the RSF said it was facilitating the exit of civilians and surrendered fighters from al-Fashir, but those who have left have reported robberies, sexual assaults, and killings by RSF soldiers on the road.
A U.N.-mandated mission said last month the RSF had committed multiple crimes against humanity in the siege of al-Fashir. The army has also been accused of atrocities.
(Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz, Nafisa Eltahir, and Menna Alaa El Din; Editing by Kate Mayberry)
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