This handout satellite photo obtained from Planet Labs PBC and taken on March 12, 2025 shows the Hagar Qadu Souk (market) in al-Fasher, the capital of Sudan's North Darfur state. (Photo by Planet Labs PBC / AFP)
Khartoum: Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on Sunday said they have captured the headquarters of the Sudanese army in the besieged city of El Fasher, the army's last stronghold in the Darfur region.
"Our forces have succeeded in liberating the 6th Division in El Fasher, North Darfur State, and have established full control over it," the RSF said in a statement released on its official Telegram channel.
The statement described the development as a "historic victory," noting that the forces had inflicted heavy losses on government troops "in lives and equipment."
RSF soldiers also posted videos on the social media platform X showing RSF fighters celebrating in front of the gate of the 6th Infantry Division headquarters belonging to the Sudanese army inside El Fasher.
So far, there has been no comment or confirmation from the Sudanese army or any independent body, amid conflicting reports about the situation on the ground in El Fasher and growing fears of a humanitarian deterioration there.
Telecommunications and internet services have been nearly completely cut off in El Fasher since early Sunday.
An eyewitness from the city said that El Fasher is experiencing a state of chaos and mass displacement of residents amid a lack of humanitarian and medical services.
However, the Popular Resistance in North Darfur State, armed civilian groups fighting alongside the Sudanese army, denied that El Fasher had fallen to the RSF.
"El Fasher is currently facing a misleading and blatant media campaign aimed at spreading fear and panic, as well as a growing wave of disinformation intended to undermine the high morale of the forces on the battlefield by suggesting that the entry of the division's headquarters means the fall of El Fasher," the group said in a statement.
"We assure you that El Fasher is the barrier and the rock upon which the militias' conspiracies and dreams will shatter -- it will remain resilient," the statement said.
El Fasher is considered the last major administrative center in the Darfur region that had remained under the control of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF).
Sudan remains gripped by a devastating conflict between the SAF and the RSF, which erupted in April 2023. The war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced millions, plunging the country deeper into a humanitarian crisis.
