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Turkey’s Hercules C-130 aircraft was fired on while trying to evacuate its citizens from Sudan. Photos/Illustrations
KHARTOUM – Hercules C-130 aircraft used to evacuate residents Turki from Sudan fired upon. The plane landed at Wadi Seidna airfield. There were no casualties in the incident.
This event was confirmed by the Turkish Ministry of Defense through its Twitter account.
“Small arms were fired at our C-130 evacuation aircraft, which was going to Wadi Seidna for the mission of evacuating our citizens trapped in Sudan, where clashes continued. Our aircraft landed safely. Although there were no injuries to our personnel, the necessary checks are being carried out on our plane,” the Turkish Defense Ministry tweeted.
The Sudanese army blamed the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for the shooting. But the accusation was denied by the RSF and said the Sudanese army was spreading lies.
“Our forces remain committed to the humanitarian ceasefire we agreed to since midnight, and it is not true that we targeted any aircraft in the skies over Wadi Seyidna in Omdurman,” RSF said in a statement.
Hundreds of people died and tens of thousands fled in the two weeks of conflict between the army and the RSF.
The two factions agreed late on Thursday to extend the truce by 72 hours to allow humanitarian access, but fighting flared in parts of the capital Khartoum on Friday, according to witnesses and live video broadcast.
(ian)
