Sudan’s paramilitaries seize a key area along with the border with Libya and Egypt

CAIRO (AP) - Sudanese paramilitaries at war with the country's military for over two years claimed to have seized a strategic area along the border with neighboring Libya and Egypt.

The Rapid Support Forces said in a statement Wednesday that they captured the triangular zone, fortifying their presence along Sudan' s already volatile border with chaos-stricken Libya.

The RSF's announcement came hours after the military said it had evacuated the area as part of "its defensive arrangements to repel aggression" by the paramilitaries.

On Tuesday the military accused the forces of powerful Libyan commander Khalifa Hifter of supporting the RSF's attack on the area, in a "blatant aggression against Sudan, its land, and its people."

Hifter's forces, which control eastern and southern Libya, rejected the claim, saying in a statement that the Sudanese accusations were "a blatant attempt to export the Sudanese internal crisis and create a virtual external enemy."

The attack on the border area was the latest twist in Sudan's civil war which erupted in April 2023 when tensions between the Sudanese army and RSF exploded with street battles in the capital, Khartoum that quickly spread across the country.

The war has killed at least 24,000 people, though the number is likely far higher. It has driven about 13 million people from their homes, including 4 million who crossed into neighboring countries. It created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, and parts of the country have been pushed into famine.

The fighting has been marked by atrocities including mass rape and ethnically motivated killings that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, especially in Darfur, according to the U.N. and international rights groups.