(MENAFN) According to reports, the Sudanese army successfully repelled a new attack by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on Babnousa in West Kordofan on Monday. A military source said troops from the army’s 22nd Infantry Division pushed back RSF fighters, who had launched an assault using heavy and light weaponry. The source, speaking anonymously, added that the army inflicted “significant losses in personnel and equipment” on the RSF.

Neither the Sudanese army nor the RSF has formally commented on the report. The RSF had claimed on Sunday that its forces were advancing toward Babnousa, a city under siege since January 2024. Local reports indicate that the army has recently thwarted multiple RSF attacks on the city using artillery, drones, and armored vehicles. Supplies have also been air-dropped to army troops inside Babnousa, which is now devoid of civilians after 177,000 residents fled, according to local relief committees.

Last month, the RSF captured El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, amid accusations of massacres, gaining control of all five Darfur states. The Sudanese army retains most of the remaining 13 states, including Khartoum. Darfur accounts for roughly one-fifth of Sudan’s territory, though the majority of the country’s 50 million population lives in army-held areas.

The ongoing conflict between the Sudanese army and the RSF, which began in April 2023, has reportedly killed at least 40,000 people and displaced 12 million, according to the World Health Organization.

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