Sudan's paramilitaries claimed control of several key sites in the country, including the presidential palace, on Saturday after clashes with the army.
In a statement, the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (FAR) said it had taken "total control" of the presidential palace and the airports in Khartoum, the capital, and Merowe, in the north of the country.
It added that it did so in response to attacks by the regular army against FAR bases in the south of Khartoum.
The last few weeks have been marked by strong tensions between the two generals who led the October 2021 coup: the head of the army, Abdel Fatah al Burhan, and the head of the FAR paramilitaries, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.
The Sudanese capital woke up on Saturday shaken by explosions and clashes in several neighborhoods.
The FAR called on the inhabitants to join them "to protect the homeland and the profits of the revolution", in reference to the popular revolt that overthrew the dictator Omar al Bashir in 2019.
Both parties accuse each other of the start of hostilities.
The FAR, which groups ex-Militiamen from the Darfur war, said they were "surprised in the morning by the arrival of a large contingent of the army that besieged their camp in Soba."
In a statement, they accused the army of having "attacked them with all kinds of heavy and light weapons."
The army, on the other hand, claimed that the fighting in Khartoum broke out when the FAR attacked military bases.
Source: AFP