The Sudanese army’s offensive across the Nile in the capital, Khartoum, was heralded by a sudden thunder of shelling and air strikes that reverberated through the darkness.

Sudan’s army launched artillery and air strikes in Sudan’s capital on Thursday in its biggest operation to regain ground there since early in its 17-month war with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), witnesses and military sources said.

Sudan’s army launched a major offensive to recapture the country’s capital from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The escalation comes despite US-led efforts to broker a ceasefire.