A drone struck the Al-Markhiyat electricity substation in Omdurman on Tuesday, cutting power across large parts of Khartoum, a day after Sudan's electricity company said drone attacks damaged five substations in the south-east.
A drone struck the Al-Markhiyat electricity substation in north-western Omdurman early on Tuesday, cutting electricity to large parts of Khartoum, according to witnesses cited by Anadolu Agency. Residents in several neighbourhoods across the capital confirmed that supplies were disrupted on Tuesday morning, and videos circulated on social media showed smoke rising from the facility.
The strike came a day after Sudan's state electricity company, Sudan Electricity Holding Company, said drone attacks by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces damaged five substations and caused a blackout across the country's south-eastern grid. The company named the substations as Singa, Al-Hawata, Al-Faw, Mashkur and Al-Junaid, and said supplies were affected in Sennar, Gedaref, White Nile and Gezira states, with the damage also threatening the stability of the national grid. The Sennar state government said an attack on the Singa substation caused material damage and injured members of the facility's guard team.
Sudan's army and the Rapid Support Forces have been fighting since April 2023, after falling out over how to integrate the paramilitary force into the military in a planned transition to civilian rule. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced nearly 13 million, according to United Nations and international estimates cited in Anadolu's reporting, and both sides have stepped up drone strikes in recent weeks.
The Monday strikes rest on the electricity company's statement, which Reuters reported while noting that it could not independently verify the operator's account, and that the Rapid Support Forces did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Tuesday Omdurman strike rests on eyewitness accounts reported by Anadolu; as of 06:30 GMT on Tuesday there was no official statement on the extent of the damage or the party responsible for that strike, so responsibility for the Omdurman attack has not been established.
The power cuts matter beyond the immediate blackout because the United Nations has warned that attacks on power infrastructure threaten health and other services for millions of people already hit hard by the conflict, Reuters reported. The electricity company said engineering and technical teams were sent to the affected substations to assess the damage and begin repairs, which will determine how quickly supplies return in the four states hit on Monday and in Khartoum.
Repair teams' assessments, and any official account of the Omdurman strike, are the next developments to watch. No timetable for restoring full supplies was given in the reports checked for this story.