Three drone strikes have hit key paramilitary positions in western Sudan, witnesses said on Sunday, as fighting between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces escalates in the war-torn region.

The strikes in Nyala, the South Darfur state capital, targeted a hotel and a medical unit in the city centre and RSF-held positions on the eastern outskirts, residents said.

"We saw ambulances transporting the wounded to several hospitals," one resident told AFP in a message.

The RSF has controlled much of Nyala since the conflict began in April 2023 between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.

RSF equipment destroyed

Air strikes on RSF positions have intensified, hitting Nyala airport – a key RSF base – and other targets.

In early May, army planes bombed RSF sites in Nyala and the West Darfur capital, El-Geneina, destroying depots and equipment, a military source said.

A cargo plane was also reportedly fired on while landing at Nyala airport, though the source did not say who was responsible.

Satellite images released last month by Yale University's Humanitarian Research Lab showed six advanced at the city's RSF-held airport.

Sudan accuses UAE of supplying RSF with drones

The Chinese-made drones appeared "capable of long-range surveillance and strikes", it said.

Sudan's army-aligned authorities have repeatedly accused the United Arab Emirates of supplying drones to the RSF – charges the UAE denies. The RSF lacks its own air force.

Sudan-UAE tensions boiled over last month when Khartoum cut diplomatic ties with Abu Dhabi after drones – believed to have been launched by the RSF – hit key infrastructure in Port Sudan, the army's wartime capital.

After nearly daily attacks in early May, the strikes paused for a week before resuming on Saturday. Residents reported intercepts of drones by air defences north and west of the city.

Devastating war

The war has killed thousands and displaced 13 million others – nearly a quarter of the population – in what the United Nations calls one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters.

The conflict has effectively split the northeast African country in two with the army holding the north, east and centre while the RSF and its allies dominate nearly all of Darfur in the west and parts of the south.