CAIRO, August 8. /TASS/. Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) said on Tuesday that they have battered the Sudanese army in the city of Omdurman, killing more than 170 soldiers, RSF said on its account on the X social network (formerly known as Twitter).

"According to preliminary data, the enemy lost 174 soldiers. More than 300 were wounded and 83 taken prisoner," it said.

There was no official comment from the Sudanese army.

According to the Al Hadath television channel, fierce fighting flared up in Omdurman on Monday morning. The Sudanese army delivered artillery strikes on RSF positions in the city’s southern and western parts. Clashes were reported in the city’s downtown area, including in residential quarters.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Khartoum state health ministry said that a powerful blast in Omdurman left more than 20 civilians dead.

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 (RSF), Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (known as Hemedti), who is al-Burhan’s deputy on the council. The main points of contention between the two military organizations pertain to the timeline and methods for unifying the armed forces of Sudan, as well as who should be appointed as commander-in-chief of the army: a career military officer, which is al-Burhan’s preferred option, 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 Sudanese health ministry, more than 3,000 people have been killed and at least 6,000 have been wounded since the violence outbreak.