Khartoum, 25 April 2023 (dpa/MIA) - As thousands stream out of Sudan, renewed air attacks hit the embattled country on Tuesday, despite a three-day ceasefire announced overnight, according to media reports.

The town of Omdurman, which directly borders the capital Khartoum, is said to have come under fire. A dpa reporter said a hospital was also hit during the fighting.

On Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Sudanese armed forces and rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF) had agreed to observe a nationwide ceasefire for 72 hours starting at midnight.

Heavy fighting broke out in the north-east African country more than a week ago. De facto president Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who is also commander-in-chief of the army, is fighting with the military against his deputy Mohammed Hamdan Daglo, the leader of the powerful RSF.

The two men have led the gold and oil-rich country of some 46 million people since a military coup in 2021.

According to information from the World Health Organization (WHO), at least 460 people have been killed and almost 4,100 injured in the fighting. The true figure, however, is likely to be much higher.

Evacuation flights of foreign nationals continued on Tuesday. France reported flying 538 people out of Sudan, while the Dutch Foreign Ministry said it had taken around 120 people out of the country.

The British government began evacuation flights for civilians from Sudan on Tuesday, according to a British government spokesman. The first plane took off on Tuesday afternoon and two more flights are planned for the night, he said.

The military airport near Khartoum used for the evacuations would continue to be secured and operated by the German Armed Forces, the British spokesman added. However, Britain has the capacity to take over if Germany withdraws.

"It is important to stress that international evacuations have been taking place since Sunday and we have not had any significant problems or large crowds so far," the spokesman said.

Germany's Bundeswehr plans to end its mission in Sudan to evacuate Germans and citizens of other nations quickly on Tuesday, according to information obtained by dpa.

Defence Minister Boris Pistorius of the ruling Social Democratic Party (SPD) told a meeting of the SPD parliamentary group in Berlin on Tuesday that a sixth flight would probably leave Sudan for Jordan in the evening.

"Then that's it for now, as far as we have an overview. Through the Foreign Office, all those who could be reached have been reached and have made their way to the airport." With the five evacuation flights so far, almost 500 people have been flown out, about a third of them Germans.

Pistorius confirmed that since Monday the Bundeswehr has taken over co-management of the military airport on the outskirts of Khartoum alongside the Sudanese armed forces to coordinate the flying in and out of countries wanting to get their nationals out.

"And that is now estimated to be the case until tomorrow," Pistorius said. But what happens in the next few hours and days is still decisive, he said.

Meanwhile, a WHO spokesman said that a central medical laboratory had been occupied by fighters. The staff had been thrown out.

The WHO representative in Sudan, Nima Saeed Abiden, warned that biological material was stored in the laboratory and should not be released under any circumstances.

Medical care also came under increasing pressure. A Red Cross material warehouse had been looted, reported the representative of the Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Farid Aiywar. As a result, hospitals can hardly be supported with medicines and other material.

Photo: EPA