Khartoum airport reopening delayed after second day of drone attacks

October 22, 2025 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) shelled Khartoum International Airport with drones for the second time in 24 hours on Wednesday, eyewitnesses said, shrouding the planned reopening of the facility in uncertainty.

Witnesses told Sudan Tribune that drones were seen over south-central Khartoum between 1:00 and 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday before army anti-aircraft defences in the airport’s vicinity engaged them.

The witnesses reported hearing the sound of anti-aircraft fire followed by loud explosions near the airport area.

The early Wednesday attack was the second on the capital’s airport by the RSF, following a similar strike at dawn on Tuesday that caused limited damage, according to security sources.

On Tuesday, Sudan’s Sovereign Council released video clips showing army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan at the airport shortly after it was shelled.

In a speech on the same day, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, vowed to target any airport used by military aircraft and drones, calling them “legitimate targets.”

Sudan’s Airports Company has not issued any clarification regarding a new date for the airport’s reopening. A private airline’s domestic passenger flight from Port Sudan was scheduled to be the first to land at the airport on Wednesday.

The booking schedule for Badr Airlines, which was set to operate the first flight, showed that flights for October 22, 23, 24, and 25 have been postponed. The new schedule indicates the first flight is now planned for October 26.

The airports company had previously announced that Khartoum International Airport would resume domestic flights on Wednesday after being out of service since the war broke out in mid-April 2023.