Sudan’s army launched artillery and air strikes in Sudan’s capital on Thursday in its biggest operation to regain ground there since early in its 17-month war with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), witnesses and military sources said.

The push by the army, which lost control of most of the capital at the start of the conflict, came ahead of an address by its commander, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, at the United Nations General Assembly in New York later in the day.

Witnesses reported heavy bombardments and clashes as army troops tried to cross bridges across the Nile connecting the three adjoining cities that make up the greater capital, Khartoum, Omdurman and Bahri.