SAF Says It Destroyed 9 RSF Vehicles in Preemptive Strike South of Al-Keili, Blue Nile, Reaffirms Jebel Kadam Control

Sudan's Defence Ministry said on September 18, 2026 that the army carried out a 'well-planned' preemptive attack, based on precise intelligence, south of the Al-Keili area in Kurmuk locality, Blue Nile state, along the Damazin-Kurmuk route near the Ethiopian border. The ministry said the operation killed an unspecified number of Rapid Support Forces fighters and destroyed nine RSF combat vehicles with all their equipment, calling it a strike that 'significantly weakened the RSF's military capabilities in the area.' The army separately reiterated that it had taken and held the strategic Jebel Kadam area in Blue Nile, repelling a joint RSF-SPLM-N (al-Hilu faction) attack there — the same location where RSF-affiliated media had circulated unverified capture claims on September 15. The RSF did not respond to either claim.