The Sudanese paramilitary Rapid Support Forces said on Monday that the group had shot down a plane identified by Sudanese military sources as a Russian aircraft, in northern Darfur near the country’s border with Chad.
An RSF spokesperson claimed Monday that the group had downed a “foreign warplane” that was operated by “jihadist military groups.” RSF commander Ali Rizqallah claimed in a video that the aircraft was an Egyptian plane conducting bombing runs in the area. However, evidence suggests it was a Russian-operated cargo plane, Sudanese military sources told the Sudan Tribune.
The Sudan Tribune reported on Monday that all crew members onboard the plane were killed, including three Sudanese citizens and two Russians. Though there remains speculation on whether the plane crashed or was shot down, the newspaper's sources within the Sudanese Armed Forces sources corroborated the RSF’s claim that the plane was shot down.
Footage circulated online of what appeared to be a Russian-made freighter Ilyushin-76 in flames at the crash site. Other videos showed RSF fighters walking among the debris and pointing out what appears to be a Russian passport and other identification documents.
The Russian Embassy in Sudan said that its diplomats were investigating the crash. It wrote on Telegram, “Representatives of the RSF report through their social networks that a cargo plane was shot down in the west of Sudan, the crew of which, according to their version, included Russian citizens. For its part, the embassy, in contact with the Sudanese authorities, is taking all necessary actions to clarify the circumstances of this incident."
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