Military plane crashes in war-torn Sudan
A Sudanese military plane has crashed in a neighborhood north of the capital, Khartoum, killing its crew, soldiers on board, and civilians, the war-torn African nation’s army reported late Tuesday.
The Antonov aircraft had taken off from Wadi Seidna military airport in Omdurman, located 22km (14 miles) north of Khartoum, when it crashed, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) said in a statement.
“We have recorded a number of martyrs and wounded among both military personnel and civilians. The injured have been treated, while fire crews have contained the fire at the crash site in the Al-Iskan area, Block 75,” it stated without specifying the number of casualties recorded.
On Wednesday, Reuters cited military and medical sources as saying that more than 20 people were killed in the incident. Major General Bahr Ahmed, a senior army commander in Khartoum, is reportedly among those who lost their lives.
At least five civilians on the ground were also killed and dozens were injured when debris from the plane struck residential areas, according to eyewitnesses quoted by the Sudan Tribune.
Military sources told the outlet that the aircraft, en route to Port Sudan with several high-ranking officers aboard, experienced a technical malfunction and fell on a house despite the pilot’s efforts to steer it to an open area.
The accident happened just a day after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) claimed its air defenses had shot down a Sudanese Army aircraft in Nyala, South Darfur’s capital.
“The plane, engulfed in flames, crashed with its entire crew, leaving the wreckage scattered across Al-Mustagbal neighborhood, north of the city,” the RSF said in a statement on Monday.
The RSF and SAF have been at war since April 2023, when tensions between their commanders over a plan to transition the country to civilian rule escalated. Since then, tens of thousands of people have been killed in the hostilities. The UN human rights office says the conflict has triggered the world’s largest displacement crisis, with half the Sudanese population facing acute food insecurity.
