Turkish evacuation plane shot at in Sudan

A Turkish military plane on a mission to evacuate Turkish citizens from conflict-hit Sudan has been fired at, Turkey’s defence ministry confirmed.

The plane, Turkish C-130, coming into land at an airbase outside Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, came under small arms fire, a Turkish ministry statement said on Friday.

No-one was injured and it landed safely at Wadi Seidna Air base, the statement added.

Reacting to the report, the Sudanese army blamed the paramilitary, Rapid Support Forces, of shooting at the Turkish military jet.

But the RSF denied firing at the plane insisting that the Sudanese army was spreading lies.

“Our forces have remained strictly committed to the humanitarian truce that we agreed upon since midnight, and it is not true that we targeted any aircraft in the sky of Wadi Seidna in Omdurman.

“How can it be reasonable for our forces to attack a Turkish evacuation plane while it was us who protected the mission in recent days and helped evacuations in all districts of the capital,” the RSF said in a statement.

In spite of the development, the Turkish defence ministry revealed that “the first group of our citizens was safely brought to Türkiye by planes belonging to the Turkish Armed Forces.”

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It said efforts would continue to rescue Turkish citizen from Wadi Seidna and the city of Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast.

Since the clashes began 14 days ago, hundreds of people have been killed and tens of thousands forced from their homes.