The Shambat Bridge in Sudan's capital collapsed, the army and Rapid Support Forces said in separate statements Saturday, trading blame for its destruction nearly seven months into their war.
Witnesses reported "clear signs of destruction on the Shambat Bridge" which connects Khartoum North and Omdurman.
The army, led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, said in a statement that "the rebel militia destroyed the Shambat Bridge... adding a new crime to their record."
Their paramilitary rivals had used the bridge as a supply route, a local resident and a military expert told AFP.
The RSF, led by Mohammed Hamdan Daglo, denied the accusation. In a statement, the RSF charged that "the Burhan terrorist militia... destroyed the Shambat Bridge, thinking that they could defeat our brave forces."
Images posted online, which AFP was unable to immediately verify, showed a section of the bridge about halfway across the river had disappeared.
"Bodies of people in military uniform lie in the streets of the city center after yesterday's (Wednesday) fighting," witnesses in Omdurman told AFP.
Others reported that a shell had fallen on the AlNau hospital north of Omdurman, the last operational medical facility in the region, killing a "health worker".
North of the Sudanese capital Khartoum last week, a massive fire ignited at an RSF-controlled oil refinery which the paramilitaries blamed on an army air strike, though the army said that "a fuel tanker belonging to the militia exploded".
On Friday, the UN warned of increasing human rights violations in Darfur.
More than 800 people have been reportedly killed by armed groups in Ardamata, West Darfur, an area so far less affected by the conflict, said UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency.
"We keep saying that the situation is horrific and grim, but frankly, we are running out of words to describe the horror of what is happening in Sudan," said Clementine Nkweta-Salami, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan, during a press conference.
More than 10,000 people have been killed in the war between the army and RSF so far, according to an estimate by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED).
