Sudan's army says it has captured a major city in the east of the country, one of its biggest gains yet in a nearly two-year war against rebel forces.
Pictures on social media showed people celebrating in the streets as army troops entered the city of Wad Madani.
The head of the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF), General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, acknowledged the loss in an audio message.
His surprise was angry and violent, meaning that he missed the huge air force in the army and the use of drones that Iran did.
But he promised to keep fighting until victory, even if it took another 20 years.
Wad Madani is the capital of Al Jazira state, and is 87 miles (140km) south of the country's capital, Khartoum.
Violence between the army and the RSF began in April 2023 after days of tension when members of the RSF were redeployed across the country in a move the army saw as a threat.
The war has claimed tens of thousands of lives. And in what the United Nations has called one of the world's “greatest displacement crises”, around nine million people have been forced to flee their homes.
The country is also slipping into hungerwith 24.6 million people – about half the population – in dire need of food aid, experts said.
Earlier this month, the United States sanctioned the head of the RSF, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, after they accused the group of committing genocide.
Officials said he was being punished for his role in “systematic” atrocities against the Sudanese people during the 20-month conflict.
