2008 Attack On Omdurman and Khartoum - The Battle

The Battle

On May 10, 2008, Sudanese National Islamic Front (NIF) government troops and a large group of rebels from Darfur clashed in the city of Omdurman, opposite of Khartoum. Witnesses reported heavy gunfire and artillery fire in the west of Sudan's capital and Sudan People's Armed Forces helicopters and vehicles rushing through the streets towards Omdurman. As Justice and Equality Movement rebels in a convoy of 130 all-terrain vehicles approached the capital, a Russian pilot working as a military instructor (allegedly "from the Ryazan higher military academy") climbed into a Sudanese Air Force MiG-29 combat jet and attempted to strafe the column. The plane was shot down by a large-calibre machine gun and the pilot was killed as his parachute did not open after ejecting. Despite the efforts of the Sudanese and Russian governments to conceal the incident, news of his death was leaked by the independent Echo of Moscow radio station in Russia and the Sudanese newspaper Alwan (which was promptly closed down for having "disclosed sensitive military information harmful to the country’s security and its accomplishments").

JEM forces entered the city, targeting the Arba'een military base and the Al-Aswat police station. Government troops backed up by tanks, artillery, and helicopter gunships were immediately deployed to Omdurman, and heavy fighting raged for several hours. The rebels then started to move towards the Al-Ingaz bridge to cross the White Nile into Khartoum in an apparent attempt to reach the Presidential Palace, while another JEM force headed towards the National Radio and Television building in Omdurman. Both attacks were repelled by government forces.

After recapturing the strategic military airbase at Wadi-Sayedna, Sudanese government soldiers stopped the rebel advance just short of the country's parliament, and by late afternoon Sudanese TV said that the rebels had been "completely repulsed", while showing live pictures of burnt vehicles and bodies on the street. Sudanese police said the alleged leader of the attackers, Mohamed Saleh Garbo, and his intelligence chief, Mohamed Nur Al-Deen, were both killed in the clash. The government declared an overnight curfew shortly after its announced cessation of hostilities at 1400 GMT. The JEM, however, had denied the government's claim of victory against the rebels, instead stating that fighting was still going on in Omdurman and Khartoum North.

According to a report by Human Rights Watch, sporadic fighting continued for the next 48 hours. Omdurman residents said there was more fighting on the morning of May 11. There were also reports of fighting on May 12 at markets in central Khartoum (west of the American Embassy), and on the other bank of the Blue Nile. Residents in Banat and Al-Muhandiseen areas reported some shootings in the area, and an eyewitness said that the Sudanese security forces set a siege around one of the buildings said to be occupied by the JEM fighters. On the same day, the JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim spoke by telephone to the Associated Press claiming to still be within Omdurman with his fighters, and vowed to continue attacks in a long guerrilla war. The group has identified their goal as the overthrow of Omar al-Bashir's military government.

On May 14, the Sudanese defense minister Gen. Abdul Rahim Mohammed Hussein said 93 of his soldiers and 13 policemen died in the battle, along with 30 civilians and more than 90 Justice and Equality Movement rebels. He also said the rebels lost at least two-thirds of their vehicles, while the interior minister Ibrahim Mahmoud said the government forces destroyed more than 40 and seized about 17 vehicles. Also on this day, JEM admitted defeat in the raid in which they said a third of all their fighters took part, but promised further attacks on the capital. The group's deputy chairman, Mahmoud Suleiman, said in a statement that it "might have lost the Khartoum battle and pulled out in dignity ... but it has not lost the war."