The source tells Al Jazeera that the army destroyed 32 RSF combat vehicles, killed dozens of RSF fighters in clashes and drone strikes.
Posted on March 6, 2026
The government-aligned Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) have announced that they have retaken the city of Bara, the second largest city in North Kordofan state in the war-torn west of the country, following a military operation which they said resulted in the expulsion of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) from the city and caused loss of life and military equipment.
A senior Sudanese military source told Al Jazeera that the air force carried out intense airstrikes in the early hours of Thursday morning against RSF deployment positions inside Bara.
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They noted that the attacks hit military vehicles and troop concentrations, killing several of them and destroying heavy combat vehicles.
The source added that the airstrikes were followed by a surprise ground assault carried out by army forces from their positions north of el-Obeid, capital of North Kordofan state – specifically from the town of al-Dankoj – before the troops advanced towards the city and took control of its main entrances.
The source states that during the operation, the attacking forces managed to destroy 32 RSF combat vehicles and seize another 10 in good condition, in addition to killing dozens of combatants in direct confrontations and drone attacks.
After the RSF was expelled from the capital Khartoum in March, the paramilitary group shifted its campaign to the Kordofan region and the town of el-Fasher in North Darfur, which had been the army’s last stronghold in the vast Darfur region until it fell to the RSF in October.
Following el-Fasher’s capture, accounts emerged accusing the group of mass murder, rape, kidnapping and widespread looting, prompting the International Criminal Court (ICC) to open a formal investigation into alleged “war crimes” committed by both sides in the conflict.
A recent United Nations report said the atrocities committed by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in el-Fasher had all the hallmarks of genocide.
While the world focuses on the US-Israel war against Iran and its repercussions with Tehran’s retaliatory attacks across the Middle East, the brutal civil war in Sudan has been going on for almost three years.
Thousands of people have died and millions have been displaced in a war that has created what the UN describes as the world’s largest displacement and hunger crisis.
According to the latest figures from the World Food Programme, at least 21.2 million people, or 41 percent of the population, are facing high levels of acute food shortages, while 12 million people have been “forced from their homes by the conflict.”
