A Haven for Civilians in Sudan Is Attacked for a Third Day

Large plumes of black smoke billowed over Sudan’s de facto wartime capital on Tuesday, as attacks on a city that had become a haven for civilians fleeing civil war stretched into a third day.

The Sudanese paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces has launched a series of drone attacks on the military-controlled Red Sea city of Port Sudan, targeting key civilian facilities, including the airport and a hospital.

On Tuesday, drones hit a fuel depot near the port and the airport, according to multiple eyewitnesses, rattling the city and leaving its streets nearly deserted. Khalid Ali Aleisir, Sudan’s minister of information and the official government spokesman, accused the group, known as the R.S.F., of carrying out a “criminal and terrorist attack” in a post on social media.

“I assure our steadfast Sudanese people that the civil defense forces and all security agencies are performing their duties to the fullest, and that the will of the Sudanese people will remain unbreakable,” Mr. Aleisir said in another post that showed him standing in front of a giant plume of smoke.

The drones also hit the upmarket Marina Hotel, where diplomats were believed to be staying, witnesses said. The hotel is close to government buildings.

No casualties were reported, and the R.S.F. has not taken responsibility for the attacks.

On Sunday, the paramilitary group attacked Port Sudan for the first time since the start of the war in 2023, ratcheting up tensions in a conflict that has already killed an estimated 150,000 people and displaced nearly 13 million.