Türkiye’s Defense Ministry on Friday confirmed there were no injuries after a Turkish evacuation plane was shot at as it arrived in conflict-ridden Sudan.
The plane was landing at Wadi Seidna Airport outside the capital Khartoum when it came under small arms fire, the ministry informed not long after the Sudanese army accused the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of shooting at the Turkish military jet.
The army claimed the shooting wounded a crew member and damaged the fuel supply.
The Turkish ministry assured that the C-130 military aircraft had safely landed and confirmed none of the crew was injured, “but the plane has been parked for necessary precautions.”
The RSF denied firing at the plane and said the 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,” the RSF said in a statement.
“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?” it said.
Ankara has been running a military operation since last Sunday to evacuate citizens out of the African nation where violent clashes between the army and the RSF over the latter’s “absolute” integration in the military have killed hundreds of people and left foreigners stranded since April 15.
Nearly 2,000 people, including 1,338 Turks, have been evacuated from the region. The latest batch of 170 evacuees arrived from Port Sudan in Istanbul on a 400M military cargo plane early on Friday.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has called on both sides to end the conflict and return to negotiations. However, despite the extension of a fragile truce between the two top generals, explosions and gunfire continue in the Sudanese capital. As a result, thousands of Sudanese are fleeing to safer areas and foreign nations are evacuating thousands of their citizens by land, air and sea.
