Paramilitary's drone attack cuts power in Sudanese capital and surrounds

Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, and the surrounding state were still without electricity on Thursday evening.

The area was hit by an unprecedented barrage of drone strikes overnight Wednesday, knocking out the power supply.

The attack comes just weeks after the army celebrated the recapture of the city.

Experts say the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces appears to have opened up a new phase in Sudan’s civil war, which has entered its third year.

It has switched tactics from ground assaults to long-distance drone attacks on power stations, dams, and other infrastructure in army-held territory.

On Wednesday, the RSF attacked three power stations in the city of Omdurman, across the Nile from Khartoum.

It has also repeatedly hit the war-time capital of Port Sudan, which until now has been seen as a safe haven for government officials, diplomats, and humanitarian organisations.

RSF drone strikes on electricity infrastructure have plunged large areas of the country into extended blackouts. They have also hit water supplies.

The war has devastated Sudan, pushing more than 13 million people out of their homes and spreading famine and disease.

Tens of thousands of Sudanese have died in the fighting.

The war between the army and the RSF was triggered by a dispute over a transition to civilian rule.