Rhino: The Rapid Support Forces announced on Thursday that it managed to carry out a quality operation that resulted in the downing of an Antonov aircraft belonging to the army and the Islamic Movement Brigades, which was dropping barrel bombs on unarmed civilians in El Fasher, North Darfur and other cities in the country.
The RSF said in a statement that ‘the shooting down of the Islamic Movement army aircraft and the killing and charring of all its crew members reflects the strength and toughness of our heroic forces and their ability to protect and secure civilians from the oppression and aggression of the Islamic Movement Daesh and confirms the determination of our forces to move forward to resolve this battle for the benefit of our great people.’
The statement continued: ‘The Islamic Movement’s army has continued to launch selective and racist air attacks using barrel bombs and chemical weapons on villages, residential neighborhoods and unarmed civilians.
Thousands of innocent civilians have been killed in a number of cities, most recently the Shangil Tobay massacre in which more than 400 civilians were killed and before that the Tora massacre, and a number of massacres in Kuma, Kabkabiya, Mellit, Kordofan, Jazira, Omdurman and Khartoum.’ The statement continued.
The statement continued: ‘We affirm that the RSF air defence personnel are fully alert and ready to deal with any air aggression that threatens the lives of civilians, and our heroic troops on all fronts are determined to continue fighting to uproot the Islamic Movement gang from its roots and build Sudan on new and just foundations that lift injustice and marginalization from all Sudanese peoples.’
The names of the crew of the downed aircraft were leaked on social media, including: Colonel Moataz Ibrahim, Captain Abdullah Kamal, Captain Abdullah Kamal, Captain Saif al-Din Mallah, Captain Ahmed Mahmoud, Radio and Jamming Captain Mohammed Abdullah al-Tahir Abu Sharmah, Radio Assistant Asim Mohammed Zain, Assistant Badawi Belil al-Zain, Assistant Shuaib, Loader Technician, and Assistant Yasser Fox, Loader Technician.
