A powerful paramilitary group has claimed to have taken control of several key sites in Sudan, including the presidential palace in central Khartoum, following fighting with the regular army.

According to Arab media reports, in a statement on Saturday, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) said it had taken “full control” of the palace as well as the airports in Khartoum and Merowe in the north of the country.

It said the moves came in response to attacks by the regular army on RSF bases in south Khartoum, where earlier witnesses had told newsmen that they heard heavy gunfire.

In response, the Sudanese Army said in a statement that the fighting broke out after RSF troops tried to attack its forces in southern Khartoum.

It declared the RSF a “rebel force” and described the paramilitary’s statements as “lies.”

Meanwhile, an international media outlet reported hearing sounds of heavy firing in a number of areas, including central Khartoum and the neighbourhood of Bahri.

Commercial aircraft trying to land at Khartoum International Airport began turning around to head back to their originating airport. Flights from Saudi Arabia turned back after nearly landing at Khartoum International Airport, flight tracking data showed.

The rift between the forces came to the surface on Thursday, when the army said that recent movements by the RSF had happened without coordination and were illegal.

A confrontation between them could spell prolonged strife across a vast country already dealing with economic breakdown and flare-ups of tribal violence.

Earlier, Sudan’s head of state and army chief General Abdel Fattah al Burhan had earlier indicated that the military is prepared to take any step to solve the ongoing standoff.

“We reassure citizens that the crisis is on the way to being solved,” they said on early on Saturday.

“Our leadership is more aware than to lead the country to a civil war where even the victor will lose.”

For weeks, deepening tensions have developed between Burhan and his number two, paramilitary commander Moha med Hamdan Daglo, over the planned integration of RSF into the regular army.

The RSF, which together with the army overthrew long-ruling leader Omar al Bashir in 2019, began redeploying units in Khartoum and elsewhere amid talks last month on its integration into the military under a transition plan leading to new elections.

That dispute has delayed the signing of a final agreement with political parties and the formation of a civilian government.