A Saudi Airlines flight was hit by gunfire at the airport in Khartoum, Sudan, shortly before take-off to Riyadh, but the crew and passengers were evacuated and are safe, according to the airline.
In a statement, Saudi Airlines said the staff are at the Saudi Arabian embassy in Sudan and the passengers are safe, while the company ordered all flights to Sudan to return to their source due to the unrest that began on Saturday morning between them. The Sudanese army and the Armed Forces Rapid Support (RSF), a military unit.
The airstrikes took place at 7:00 am local time (6:00 am in mainland Portugal), two hours before the start of fighting between the opposition.
The President of the Sovereign Council of Sudan and the head of the Armed Forces, General Abdelfatah al Burhan, said this Saturday in an interview with Al Jazeera television that “Rapid Support Forces entered the airport and burned some planes”, without mentioning the victims. companies.
The Egyptian airline Egyptair also announced on Twitter that it will temporarily suspend its flights to Khartoum for 72 hours due to the “security situation in Sudan”.
In the middle of the morning today, the RSF said it was controlling the international airport of Khartoum, the largest in Sudan, which Al Burhan denied, adding that the Army had what was happening in the capital “under surveillance”.
The clashes come two days after the army warned that the country was facing “dangers” that could lead to war, following the mobilization of the RSF in the capital of Sudan and other cities without the permission or cooperation of the army. .
This promotion took place during negotiations to achieve a political agreement that could end the chaos in 2021 and lead Sudan to a democratic transition, an agreement whose signing was suspended twice this month due to conflicts and conflicts between the Army and the RSF. .