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Paramilitary drones targeted Khartoum International Airport on Wednesday for a second consecutive day, a Sudanese military source said.

The source, who spoke anonymously because he was not authorised to brief the media, said ‘drones targeted Khartoum airport once again at dawn’ on Wednesday.

He added that army air defences intercepted the drones he said had been launched by a ‘terrorist militia’ — a reference to the Rapid Support Forces, which have been fighting the army since April 2023.

Sudan’s Civil Aviation Authority had said the airport would reopen on Wednesday, with domestic flights resuming gradually after technical and operational preparations were completed.

But no further announcements on the reopening were made after Tuesday’s attack and it remains unclear whether operations will go ahead as planned following the latest strikes.

On Tuesday, witnesses reported hearing numerous explosions in an area near the airport in the early morning. The facility appeared intact during a visit later that day by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.

Speaking from inside the airport, Burhan said the army was ‘determined to crush this rebellion’ — a reference to the RSF led by his former ally Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

The RSF has not claimed responsibility for the attacks, but has been repeatedly accused of using drones to target military and civilian infrastructure in recent months.

In a speech released late on Tuesday on social media, Daglo asserted the RSF ‘attacks military positions only’ and vowed to remove the army, which he called a ‘cancer’.

Khartoum has seen a relative lull in ground fighting since the army retook parts of the capital earlier this year, but drone strikes have continued amid on-going efforts by the government to restore services and relocate key institutions back from the de facto capital of Port Sudan on the Red Sea.

More than one million people have returned to the capital within the last ten months, according to the UN’s migration agency.

Large parts of Khartoum, however, remain in ruins, with millions still experiencing frequent blackouts linked to RSF drone activity.

The most intense violence meanwhile is now concentrated in the west, where RSF forces have surrounded El-Fasher, the last major city in Darfur not under their control.

The paramilitary force has tried to seize the city for over 18 months.

The UN warned on Monday of escalating violence in North and West Darfur states as well as the Kordofan region and Blue Nile state in the south with drone strikes and ground clashes reported across the regions.

In Blue Nile State late on Tuesday, the army said its air defences intercepted drones that targeted power stations in the city of Roseis.

Despite repeated international efforts to broker a ceasefire, both sides have shown little willingness to compromise.

‘We do not want any mercenary or militia to have a role in Sudan’s future,’ Burhan said on Tuesday, referring to the RSF.

Last month, Sudan’s army-aligned government pushed back on a new peace proposal put forward by the US, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.

The plan had hinted at the current government and the RSF’s exclusion from the country’s post-war political transition.

The countries — often referred to as the quad — jointly called for a humanitarian truce in Sudan, followed by a permanent ceasefire and a transition toward civilian rule.

The broader conflict has killed tens of thousands, displaced nearly 12 million people, and created the world’s largest displacement and hunger crises.