Qatar's embassy in Sudan attacked

Doha's embassy in Sudan has been ransacked by an armed group, Qatar's Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.

"The State of Qatar condemned in the strongest terms the irregular armed forces' storming and vandalising its embassy building in Khartoum," the foreign ministry said.

"The embassy staff had previously been evacuated and... none of the diplomats or embassy staff were subjected to any harm," the ministry said.

Qatar did not lay blame on any group for the attack.

But a statement from authorities loyal to General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan issued a statement accusing the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) under Mohamed Hamdan Daglo of having carried out the attack.

The embassies of Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey have also come under attack in recent weeks.

The attack on Saturday comes a day after an Arab League summit held in Saudi Arabia, in which leaders renewed calls for a truce between the two parties in the conflict in Sudan.

On Friday, Burhan formally sacked his former ally Daglo as his deputy — after weeks of open combat — and appointed three allies to high positions in the military.

Air strikes in Khartoum

Also on Saturday, Khartoum was rocked by air strikes, as well as artillery exchanges between Sudan's warring factions.

News agencies cited eye witnesses as saying that some of the strikes occurred near Sudan's state broadcaster in Omdurman. Other strikes occurred were reported in southern Omdurman and northern Bahri.

Bahri and Omdurman lie across the White Nile from Sudan's capital and are found within Khartoum's metropolitan area.

Reuters cited eyewitnesses in Khartoum as saying that the situation in Khartoum was relatively calm, with sporadic gunshots being heard.

The conflict in Sudan began on April 15 and has displaced almost 1.1 million people. 705 people have been killed as a result of the fighting, according to the World Health Organization.

sdi/msh (AFP, Reuters)