CAIRO, April 18. /TASS/. The Sudanese army views the current situation in the country as an attempt by a paramilitary rapid reaction force (special forces unit) to mount a coup and seize power, a military official said on Tuesday.

"What we are seeing now [in Sudan] is an attempt at a coup d’etat and seizure of power [by the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF]," Al-Arabiya News quoted a Sudanese army official as saying.

The military official called upon members of RSF units to "keep their distance from the conspirators, lay down their arms and surrender." Otherwise, should they continue resistance, "the army will consider them enemies," he warned. At the same time, members of the RSF units "are Sudanese, and they are not seeking [continued] hostilities," the official argued.

Sudan’s army said a bit earlier that it had expanded its military operation against the RSF and called on the population to remain cautious. The army official said the command had collected all necessary information about how the situation will unfold. The army repelled the paramilitary force’s attack at the first stage and consolidated its positions, he said. According to him, the time is now ripe to begin the second stage with fresh forces.

The situation in Sudan escalated amid disagreement between the army chief, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who also heads the ruling Sovereign Council, and the head of the paramilitary RSF, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, who is al-Burhan’s deputy on the council. On April 15, clashes erupted near an air base in Merowe and in the capital, Khartoum. According to the latest data from the Central Committee of Sudan Doctors, more than 100 civilians have been killed in the clashes, while the World Health Organization said nearly 1,000 people had been injured.