PORT SUDAN (Reuters) – Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces launched a second drone strike in as many days on Port Sudan, targeting fuel depots in the eastern city early on Monday, security sources told Reuters, in a major escalation of a two-year-long conflict.
Large plumes of smoke and fire rose from the facility well into the afternoon as civil defence teams worked to contain a blaze there.
Military sources told Reuters that the RSF used a drone at dawn to bomb the fuel storage facilities that they described as civilian infrastructure.
“This attack reflects a deliberate attempt by these militias to paralyse life and target citizens’ basic needs,” Sudan’s energy and petroleum minister Mohiedienn Naiem Mohamed Saied said.
The sources labelled the strike part of a “criminal campaign by the militia.”
Speaking from the site, Saied condemned what he described as a “terrorist operation” aimed at crippling essential services.
He said fires had engulfed major fuel storage facilities after the drone hit a diesel depot and the blaze spread to nearby tanks, according to a ministry statement.
There were fears it could trigger a wider disaster in the densely populated area, Saied said.
The RSF has not yet claimed responsibility for the strike.
On Sunday, the RSF carried out a drone attack on a military base and other targets near Port Sudan Airport, the first time the group had reached the strategic Red Sea city, previously considered a government stronghold and humanitarian hub. No casualties were reported.
The eastern expansion of hostilities threatens to upend the fragile stability of Port Sudan, which houses the country’s main seaport, airport and the army’s top command.
Since April 2023, Sudan has been gripped by war between the army and RSF, triggered by a dispute over a transition to civilian rule. The conflict has displaced over 12 million people and pushed half the population into acute hunger, according to the United Nations.
(This story has been refiled to correct the day to Monday in paragraph 1)
(Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz, Writing by Mohamed Ezz; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Peter Graff)
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