Drone strikes blamed on paramilitary forces shook the Sudanese flashpoint of El-Obeid on Monday, hours after the army regained control of the city's highway to the capital Khartoum.
The army's rival, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), have for months amassed troops around El-Obeid, attempting to encircle it ahead of an apparent large-scale assault.
Following a days-long advance across North Kordofan state, the Sudanese army on Sunday managed to push the RSF west, off the 400-kilometre (250-mile) highway that connects Khartoum with the embattled Kordofan region's largest city, two army sources told AFP Monday on condition of anonymity.
Drone strikes were reported on the city at dawn, with local officials attributing them to the RSF.
The local lawyers' association and a branch of the Agricultural Bank of Sudan were left in ruins, an AFP reporter saw, though no casualties were reported.
