March 20, 2025 (KHARTOUM) – Heavy fighting erupted between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in central Khartoum and around the presidential palace late on Wednesday, continuing into the early hours of Thursday, military sources and witnesses said.
The army imposed a tight siege on central Khartoum, where the presidential palace and federal government headquarters are located, as it sought to control the key strategic area.
Both sides used a range of weaponry, including artillery, drones, and armored vehicles, according to witnesses. Video footage circulated online showed intense shelling near the presidential palace.
Military sources told Sudan Tribune that the RSF attempted to bring reinforcements from southern Khartoum early on Thursday, but the army blocked the supply route with air and artillery strikes.
The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, also said that RSF fighters attempting to flee the presidential palace and central Khartoum had suffered heavy casualties and equipment losses. The sources described the RSF’s attempted escape as a near-suicidal effort.
Since March 16, the army’s Armored Corps has conducted a major offensive, advancing north and east to link up with troops from the army’s General Command east of Khartoum. This has tightened the army’s control around RSF forces stationed at the presidential palace and in central Khartoum.
The Armored Corps, in a statement on Facebook, said it had “destroyed militia forces trying to escape from the vicinity of the presidential palace.”
Military sources told Sudan Tribune that army drones had destroyed approximately 35 RSF vehicles along a street leading to the presidential palace. The vehicles were reportedly planning to move towards southern Khartoum.
An Al Arabiya correspondent reported that the latest information from the capital indicated an army advance from the eastern side of the General Command headquarters towards the presidential palace.
The army has taken control of the Kuwaiti Building towers and secured the area around the Foreign Ministry building, which is very close to the palace. The correspondent said the building is within less than half a kilometer of the palace’s eastern gate. Meanwhile, Armored Corps forces are also advancing in central Khartoum from the south.
The sources added that RSF units had been targeted inside the Arab Market, and on Nile Street, while a third group attempting to cross the Nile River to Omdurman by boat was also engaged.
Among the destroyed vehicles were trucks carrying troops and ammunition, as well as vehicles equipped with jamming devices that the RSF reportedly intended to move to positions in southern Khartoum, the sources said.
Social media accounts affiliated with the army posted videos purportedly showing a significant number of RSF soldiers killed and vehicles destroyed near the Stack laboratory in central Khartoum.
The Sudanese army aims to seize control of the presidential palace and the wider central Khartoum area, which includes most government institutions and commercial centres. It has been under RSF contr
