Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) said Sunday it had seized full control of El-Fasher, the last major city in the expansive Darfur region not in its hands, in a potential turning point in the country's unrelenting civil war.

The announcement came just hours after it claimed to have captured the army's main base in the city, which it has besieged since May 2024.

In a statement, the group said it had "extended control over the city of El-Fasher from the grip of mercenaries and militias," referring to the Sudanese army, with which it has been in a brutal war since April 2023.

AFP could not independently verify the claim, and the army and its allies did not respond to requests for comment.

Tom Fletcher, head of the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCH

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