UPDATE 2 – 43 killed in airstrike on Sudan market

UPDATES WITH ARMY DENIAL

By Buhram Abdel-Men'em

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AA) – At least 43 people were killed in an airstrike on a marketplace in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, on Sunday, according to a medical group.

In a statement, Sudan's Doctors Syndicate said 55 people were also injured in the attack that targeted an open market in Mayo neighborhood in South Khartoum.

The Emergency Room activist group had earlier put the death toll from the airstrike at 40 people.

It was not yet clear who was behind the airstrike.

The attack came amid heavy fighting between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group in the capital.

For its part, the RSF accused the army of carrying out an airstrike in Mayo neighborhood.

But the Sudanese army denied the accusation, terming the claim as “misleading” and “false”.

A military statement said the army “directs its strikes at rebel gatherings, crowds, sites and bases as legitimate military targets, while fully complying with international humanitarian law and the rules of engagement as a professional army and away from our innocent citizens and civilian and protected objects.”

More than 3,000 civilians have been killed and thousands injured in clashes between the army and the paramilitary group since April, according to local medics.

Several cease-fire agreements brokered by Saudi and US mediators have failed to end violence in the country.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar