CAIRO, May 9. /TASS/. The number of people killed in Sudan since the start of armed clashes between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) reached 604, more than 5,000 people were injured, Asharq TV channel said on Tuesday citing data from the World Health Organization (WHO).

Earlier, WHO reported that more than 450 people became victims of the clashes, more than 4,000 were injured.

On May 5, Sudan's Ministry of Health registered 551 civilian deaths since the start of the armed conflict.

The situation in Sudan escalated amid disagreements between the army chief, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who also heads the ruling Sovereignty Council, and the head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (also known as Hemedti), who is al-Burhan’s deputy on the council. The main points of contention between the two military organizations are related to the timeline and methods of forming unified armed forces of Sudan, as well as who should become the commander-in-chief of the army: a career military officer, which is an option supported by al-Burhan, or an elected civilian president, as Dagalo insists. On April 15, armed clashes between the rival military factions erupted near a military base in Merowe and in the capital, Khartoum. According to the country’s Health Ministry, several hundred people have been killed in the country since the conflict broke out.