PORT SUDAN (Sudan), May 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Sudan’s army-aligned authorities said that rival paramilitaries launched a second drone strike in two days targeting the government’s seat of power, setting ablaze the country’s main fuel depot.
A thick cloud of black smoke billowed for hours over Port Sudan, on the country’s Red Sea coast, after the attack blamed of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Authorities were fighting to contain the fire, which the energy ministry said had spread across “warehouses filled with fuel”, warning of a “potential disaster in the area”.
A government source reported a new explosion at the depot Monday night, saying it was caused by the blaze.
“The explosion this evening was caused by the ignition of one of the tanks, caused by the spread of the fire,” the official said, adding that authorities had asked Saudi Arabia to send an aircraft to help fight the flames.
There were no immediate reports of any casualties in the drone strike, which came a day after RSF drones struck Port Sudan for the first time since war broke out in April 2023 between paramilitaries and the regular army.
The RSF has increasingly relied on drones since losing territory including much of the capital Khartoum in March, attacking deep into army-held territory.
The paramilitary force has not commented about the recent attacks on Port Sudan.
Energy Minister Mohieldin Naeem Saeed, of the army-aligned internationally recognised government, called Monday’s attack a “terrorist operation” targeting civilian infrastructure.
The fuel depot in Port Sudan serves the country’s north and east, vast areas controlled by the army.
In the conflict’s early days, the government and UN agencies relocated from Khartoum to Port Sudan, which until Sunday had been spared the violence and where hundreds of thousands of displaced people have sought refuge.
The war has killed tens of thousands of people, uprooted 13 million and created the world’s largest hunger and displacement crises. — NNN-AGENCIES
