The army in Sudan says it has captured a key city in the country’s east, one of its biggest gains yet in an almost two-year-long war against rebel forces.
Footage on social media showed people celebrating in the streets as army soldiers entered the city of Wad Madani.
The leader of paramilitary group the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, acknowledged the loss in an audio message.
His admission was angry and rambling, attributing the defeat to the army’s air superiority and use of Iranian-made drones.
But he vowed to continue fighting until victory, even if it took another 20 years.
Wad Madani is the capital of the state of Al Jazira, and is 87 miles (140km) south of the country’s capital, Khartoum.
Violence broke out between the army and RSF in April 2023 following days of tension as members of the RSF were redeployed around the country in a move that the army saw as a threat.
The war has claimed tens of thousands of lives. And in what the United Nations has called one of the world’s “largest displacement crises”, about nine million people have been forced to flee their homes.
The country is also slipping into a famine, with 24.6 million people – about half the population – in urgent need of food aid, experts said.
Earlier this month, the US sanctioned the RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo after it accused the group of committing genocide.
Officials said he was being punished for his role in “systematic” atrocities against the Sudanese people during the 20-month conflict.