The sounds of air strikes, anti-aircraft weaponry and artillery could be heard in Khartoum early on Saturday and dark smoke rose over parts of the city, as fighting in Sudan entered a third week.

Hundreds dead, thousands of hearts broken: report by Sudanese journalist

No facilities, no basic necessities. Just unburied corpses found lying in the streets. Those are the realities of war. Many places in the world…

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Clashes between the army and a rival paramilitary force continued despite the announcement of a 72-hour ceasefire extension on Friday, when strikes by air, tanks and artillery rocked the country’s capital and the adjacent cities of Bahri and Ombdurman.

Hundreds have been killed and tens of thousands have fled for their lives in a power struggle between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) that erupted into violence on April 15, derailing an internationally-backed transition toward democratic elections.

The fighting has also reawakened a two-decade-old conflict in the western Darfur region where scores have died this week.

The army has been deploying jets or drones on RSF forces in neighborhoods across the capital. Many residents are pinned down by urban warfare with scant food, fuel, water and power.

This is Sudan💔 pic.twitter.com/p2SebmP1dy

— Weyimi B. Lube 𓃵 (@_weyimi) April 29, 2023
At least 512 people have been killed and close to 4,200 wounded, according to the United Nations, which believes the real toll is much higher. Only 16 percent of hospitals were operating as normal in the capital.

More than 75,000 people were internally displaced within Sudan just in the first week of the fighting, according to the United Nations.

The violence has sent tens of thousands of refugees across the country’s borders and threatens to stir instability across a volatile swathe of Africa between the Sahel and the Red Sea.

The latest ceasefire, brokered by foreign powers, is supposed to last until Sunday at midnight.