RSF Claims Capture of Bakori and Sarkam Military Bases Southeast of Damazin, Blue Nile State

The RSF and allied SPLM-N (al-Hilu faction) fighters claimed on Friday, August 28, 2026, that they had seized the Sudanese army's Bakori and Sarkam (Sirkam) military bases southeast of Ed Damazin, the Blue Nile state capital, after fierce fighting. RSF released videos it said showed its fighters inside the army's Sirkam base. The Sudanese army had not issued a detailed statement on the claim as of Saturday morning; local sources said the army had repelled an attack on Bakori, leaving control of the area disputed and the battlefield claims unverified. Sirkam and Bakori sit on routes that could allow an advancing force to push north toward Damazin, the political, military, and administrative center of Blue Nile region, making the two bases strategically significant chokepoints in the RSF-SPLM-N offensive that had already seized Geissan (Aug 11) and recaptured Kurmuk (Aug 13) further south near the Ethiopian border.