Watch as flames and dark smoke rise from Khartoum’s iconic skyscraper.
Buildings caught fire in Sudan’s capital after heavy fighting between the army and rival forces.
Videos posted online Sunday showed the iconic Greater Nile Petroleum Oil Company tower engulfed in flames.
“This is really painful,” Tagreed Abdin, the building’s architect, said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Airstrikes and ground battles have continued in Khartoum and other towns and cities since fighting began in April.
According to the UN, more than a million people have been forced to flee the country.
Located near the Nile River, the oil firm’s 18-story skyscraper is one of Khartoum’s most recognizable landmarks.
Abdin said it defined the city’s skyline and lamented “that senseless destruction.”
It is still unclear what caused the building’s cone-shaped structure, which has a glass façade, to catch fire. There have been no reports of injuries or deaths.
The RSF has been fighting to take control of Sudan’s capital.
Violence in Sudan began on April 15, sparked by a power struggle between Sudanese army leaders and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
It came after days of tension when members of the RSF were redeployed across the country in a move the army considered a threat.
The Sudan War Monitor, which provides analysis of the conflict, said the RSF had attacked army-held areas on Saturday, including a Justice Ministry office block. Several government buildings reportedly caught fire as a result of the attack.
RSF said the army carried out the attacks, including against the 18-story skyscraper.
The military has not yet commented.
Former vice-chairman of the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company, Fadl Abdullah, told BBC Arabic that the building had been built at a cost of around $20 million (£16 million) and its destruction was a “financial loss.” very big”.
Attacks on army installations continued until Sunday, witnesses told the AFP news agency.
Residents of a southern district of the city, where the army was attacking RSF bases, told AFP they heard “huge bangs” when they woke up.
Health authorities announced on Sunday that all major hospitals in Khartoum, as well as those in the Darfur region, were out of service.
Nawal Mohammed, 44, who lives at least 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) from the clashes in the capital, said the doors and windows of his family home shook with the force of the explosions.
He described the battles on Saturday and Sunday as “the most violent since the war began.”
According to a group of democracy lawyers, fighting has killed “dozens of civilians” in Khartoum since Friday.
Fighting was also reported in the town of El-Obeid, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) south of the city.
The RSF has been fighting to take control of the capital and military airstrikes have aimed to weaken RSF positions.
The conflict has killed some 7,500 people and displaced more than five million.
The offices of the Sudanese Organization for Standardization and Metrology were also set on fire.