Sudan army says retakes key town near Chad

AFP , Tuesday 30 Jun 2026

The Sudanese army said it had retaken Kulbus, a strategic town near the Chadian border, in what appeared to be its biggest battlefield gain in western Darfur since the fall of El-Fasher last year.

File Photo: Sudanese army soldiers. AFP

Since April 2023, the National Sudanese army, at war with the Rapid Support militia that consolidated control over most of Darfur after capturing El-Fasher, the military's final stronghold in the region.

The military and its allied Joint Forces, a coalition of armed groups, meanwhile retained pockets of control along the Chadian border.

Kulbus lies on a vital corridor near the border, roughly halfway between the army-held border town of Al-Tina in North Darfur and El-Geneina, the capital of West Darfur, which remains under RS militia control.

In a statement late Monday, the Joint Forces said their fighters had taken "full control" of the town in West Darfur after what they described as "decisive battles", claiming to have inflicted heavy losses on RS militia units and seized vehicles and weapons.

The claims could not be independently verified and the RS miltia has not commented.

In a separate statement, a pro-army popular resistance group accused the Rapid Support militia of using Kulbus as a staging ground for "thousands of fighters crossing the border" and as a key supply hub linked to El-Geneina.

Video footage circulated by local media appeared to show men wearing Sudanese army uniforms celebrating in front of a sign reading "West Darfur State, Kulbus Locality".

Fighting has intensified in recent months along the frontier between North and West Darfur as the army seeks to secure a strategic corridor along the border with Chad, which it accuses of being aligned with the RS militia.

Al-Tina, already at risk of famine according to the UN, has come under repeated RS militia attacks this year.

In recent days, the UN, several governments and aid organisations have warned of a possible RS militia offensive on El-Obeid, a key city in the neighbouring Kordofan region, raising fears of a repeat of the assault that led to the fall of El-Fasher.

Now in its fourth year, the conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced millions and created the world's largest hunger crisis.

* This story was edited by Ahram Online.