A RUSSIAN cargo plane was shot down in a giant fireball after a friendly fire disaster that has left no survivors, reports say.
The transport aircraft flying over Sudan was hit by a guided missile fired by the rebel Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The burning Russian-made Ilyushin Il-76T hit the ground and exploded in a giant fireball in the west of the country where fighting has been raging in the civil war.
Debris burned across a wide area on the ground as the Sudanese soldiers celebrate around it, footage posted to social media shows.
Despite being Russian-made and crewed, the plane appears to have been working for the UAE – who have been backing the RSF rebels with weapons.
Documents belonging to two suspected Russian crew members with IDs linking back to a UAE company were found at the crash site.
Russian aviation channel Aviatorshchina on Telegram said: “The transport plane was mistakenly shot down early this morning by the Rapid Reaction Force, RSF.
“According to one of the commanders of the force, Ali Rizkallah, his subordinates used guided missiles to shoot down an ‘Egyptian Antonov’, which was allegedly used by the Egyptian military as a bomber.
“However, a little later they realised that they had shot down an Il-76, which was delivering aid from the UAE to Amjaras [in Chad], by ‘friendly fire’.”
Neighbouring Chad has become a staging point for weapons to go to before being smuggled into the RSF controlled areas of the country, experts say.
Documents at the scene are in the names of two Russian citizens Viktor Granov and Anton Selivanets, both aircraft engineers.
The Russian embassy in Sudan said it was in contact with local authorities and was investigating the circumstances of the incident.
The insurgent RSF have been fighting the government since the war broke out last year.
Russia has reportedly backed both sides in the conflict as it has sought to expand its influence in Africa.
Inside the conflict engulfing Sudan – a nation which has seen 6 coups since independence from Britain
By Nick Parker and Jerome Starkey
GOLD-rich Sudan is the coup-capital of Africa.
Once home to ancient kingdoms of pyramid-building pharaohs, the vast desert nation is now the world’s 15th biggest gold producer and major food and oil exporter.
More than 2.5 million people have died in six coups, 11 attempted coups, two civil wars, partition and the Darfur genocide since Sudan gained independence from Britain in 1956.
The country has only been at peace for 12 of the previous 68 years.
It is bigger than Britain, France, Germany and Ukraine combined but has a population of just 45 million people.
Q: What is happening?
A: Deadly clashes erupted between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on April 15 over plans to integrate their troops.
More than 400 people have died, thousands more have been injured and at least 20,000 have fled abroad.
The fighting is focused in the capital Khartoum and eastern Darfur.
Q: Who leads the factions?
A: The SAF is led by General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, a career soldier, who seized power in a coup in 2021.
The RSF is led by warlord general Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, better known as Hemedti, whose Janjaweed thugs helped crush Darfur uprisings from 2003 onwards.
They joined forces in 2019 to topple the former president, Omar al-Bashir, after months of protests.
Q: Why are they fighting?
A: Hemedti has long resented being Burhan’s deputy.
Plans to integrate Hemedti’s forces risked diluting his grip on gold mines and farms.
Q: Who are their backers?
A: Egypt supports Burhan while the US, UK, Germany and France have relied on his cooperation to evacuate their civilians.
The RSF is backed by Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar, who in turn is backed by Russia.
Russia’s murderous Wagner mercenaries are also known to be active in neighbouring Central African Republic, close to Hemedti’s heartlands.
