Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Khartoum (Fides News Agency) – The Sudanese air force has resumed bombing operations in Kordofan using piloted aircraft after a months-long hiatus.
On Wednesday, April 22, Sudanese military aircraft flew over Kordofan for the first time in months, bombing targets belonging to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) near the town of Dilling in South Kordofan State.
The Sudanese Air Force had suspended its air operations over the Kordofan and Darfur regions after RSF air defenses shot down several fighter and transport aircraft. The last aircraft was lost in Babanusa in West Kordofan. The loss of manned aircraft had forced the Sudanese Air Force, commanded by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, to resort to drones. However, these unmanned aerial vehicles have a limited range. In recent months, drones belonging to the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) have repeatedly attacked the RSF and its ally, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), in Dilling and nearby towns such as Abu Zabad, Al-Fula, Al-Mujlad, and Lagawa. On April 22, Russian-made fighter jets bombed several RSF and SPLM-N targets near Dilling, the second-largest city in South Kordofan, which had been bombed for months by the RSF/SPLM-N military alliance.
These renewed attacks by manned Sudanese aircraft followed targeted attacks on RSF air defenses in the previous months. In particular, in February, a Chinese-made missile battery, believed to have been supplied to the RSF by the United Arab Emirates, was hit.
Meanwhile, diplomatic efforts to end the three-year war are intensifying (see Fides, 16/4/2026). Following the recent International Sudan Conference in Berlin, General al-Burhan traveled to Saudi Arabia and Oman for talks. The Saudi leadership supports the Egyptian-led effort to reach a ceasefire between the Sudanese warring parties. (L.M.) (Fides News Agency, 23/4/2026)
