MAYHEM

Chilling Photos of Airport Attacks as Sudan Plunges Into Chaos

Satellite images shared with The Daily Beast show damaged helicopters and aircraft due to fighting. Others show a destroyed airplane and billowing black smoke plumes.

Sudan’s military and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have reached a ceasefire agreement after four days of violent clashes throughout the country.

The 24-hour ceasefire is expected to take place Tuesday evening, but already, shelling and gunfire is still ongoing, according to Al Jazeera.

The violence between the military and the RSF comes years after a military coup ousted Sudan’s leader Omar al-Bashir in 2019. But in the years since, a power-sharing agreement between the two sides has fallen apart. The military has called the latest violent clashes “an attempted coup and rebellion against the state.”

Attacks have damaged several helicopters and aircraft at bases in Sudan, according to satellite imagery taken by Maxar Technologies Tuesday and shared with The Daily Beast.

The images show at least four damaged helicopters at a helicopter base south of Khartoum. At Merowe Airbase, north of Khartoum, there are signs that one of the buildings is on fire. Su-25 ground attack airplanes can be seen destroyed at El Obeid airbase as well.

At least 14 airplanes at Khartoum International Airport have been destroyed in recent days, according to satellite imagery analysis from Maxar Technologies.

Those images, taken on Monday, show a destroyed Ukrainian airplane at the airport next to one that appears somewhat intact. Other images show fire and billowing smoke plumes rising up in a black cloud from damaged airplanes.

The violence has been roiling some of the most vulnerable in the country, with attacks and bombardments hitting hospitals. Ibn Sina Hospital came under bombardment Tuesday morning, according to the Sudan Central Doctors Committee. Other hospitals, including the Al Moa’lem Medical City hospital, the Khartoum Teaching Hospital, and the Police Hospital in Burri, have come under attack in recent days as well, doctors told CNN, the Miami Herald, and the New York Times.

“The evacuation was chaos,” one witness told CNN. “We were running as soldiers were shouting, ‘run,’ and then someone else would yell, ‘stop it’s not safe.’ But what choice did we have?”

Both sides have denied hitting hospitals.

Sudan’s Central Medical Committee urged both sides to stop attacking hospitals and vulnerable people.

“This bombing remains a clear evidence that the lives of medical staff and patients are threatened, which will leave hospitals empty from medical staff,” Sudan’s Central Medical Committee said Tuesday. “We at the Sudan Central Medical Committee warn the warring parties not to go in this dangerous direction, and we also appeal to human rights organizations to intervene urgently to protect the medical staff and patients, and avoid the hospital and staff facilities from the danger of this bombing.”

A U.S. convoy was attacked earlier this week, U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken confirmed while on travel to Japan this week.

"I can confirm that yesterday we had an American diplomatic convoy that was fired on," Blinken said. "All of our people are safe and unharmed, but this action was reckless, it was irresponsible and, of course, unsafe. A diplomatic convoy with diplomatic plates, a U.S. flag being fired upon."

Blinken spoke with Army chief Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, Monday, urging them to reach a ceasefire agreement following the attack. Blinken shared his concerns about the death and injury of Sudanese civilians amidst the fighting and urged the warring sides to allow humanitarian assistance in to the country.

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Shannon VavraNational Security Reporter

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