Army Advances, Reaches Outskirts of Al-Nohod and Abu Zabad
The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) have expanded their ground deployment in West Kordofan State, making fresh battlefield gains by establishing full control over several strategic areas east of Al-Nohod. The developments come amid military and political statements indicating that army forces are nearing the city.
Field sources reported that the army had liberated the areas of Om Jokko and Khamas Al-Donki, both belonging to Abu Zabad locality, east of Al-Nohod. Video footage circulated by Sudanese army personnel also documented their entry into the areas of Markab and Khamas Halab in the state, as they confirmed that their advance towards new positions was continuing.
In a clear indication that the military battle for control of Al-Nohod, the administrative capital of West Kordofan, was approaching its decisive stage, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Sudanese Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Abdel-Khalig Nassir, announced that “within hours, we will hear the definitive news” regarding the liberation of the city.
Meanwhile, Central Darfur State Governor Mustafa Tambour confirmed that the army’s vanguard forces were less than 10 kilometres away from entering the city.
On the other side, the Dar Hamar Emergency Room reported that the militia was sending military reinforcements, comprising around 80 combat vehicles and 60 motorcycles, towards the Abu Galib area in the countryside of Abu Zabad. It added that the militia was forcing its members to fight under duress amid its battlefield setbacks.
Eyewitnesses also told the Sudanese Human Rights Observatory that armed militia members were moving inside residential neighbourhoods in Al-Nohod, where they engaged in random gunfire, stormed homes, looted property and terrorised families.
The witnesses explained that civilians were targeted inside their homes despite the absence of clashes within the city. They pointed out that these violations coincided with a complete shutdown of telecommunications and internet networks, leaving the city isolated and making it difficult to document conditions and convey residents’ distress calls.
In a related development, exclusive sources told Shahed Ayan that 63 combat vehicles belonging to the Dagalo family militias had fled fighting fronts in Kordofan towards the city of Nyala.
According to the sources, orders were issued to assign a force to pursue the fleeing vehicles, arrest their crews and compel them to return to the battlefronts. However, the force itself refused to hand over the vehicles or return to the fighting fronts, before most of its members fled to rural settlements.