By Tom Hussey
BRITISH embassy staff have been evacuated from Sudan in a daring mission, Rishi Sunak says.
The Prime Minister said the “complex and rapid” operation saw diplomats and their families extracted from the embassy in Khartoum.
Sudan has seen heavy fighting in recent weeks[/caption]
Khartoum has come under intense fire as the army and paramilitary forces wage battle against one another[/caption]
British embassy staff have been evacuated from Sudan in a daring mission, Rishi Sunak says[/caption]
Fighting in Sudan has been raging between paramilitary troops of the Rapid Support Force and the army, both of whose leaders are engaged in a brutal power struggle.
Special Forces, paras and elite Royal Marines marines swooped into a secret airfield far outside the city.
The troops used an A400 Atlas and a C-130 Hercules to storm in and out in just minutes on the ground.
Terrified embassy staff and dependants were waiting at the airstrip after fleeing Khartoum with a small team of special forces body guards while street battles raged in the city.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said 1200 troops, Royal Marines and RAF were involved in the rescue, which launched from Cyprus.
He said: “They have evacuated British Embassy staff and their dependants from Khartoum due to the escalating threats against diplomats.”
Mr Sunak said “significant escalation in violence and threats to embassy staff” left him no choice but to send in Britain’s best.
He wrote on Twitter: “I pay tribute to the commitment of our diplomats and bravery of the military personnel who carried out this difficult operation.”
The Prime Minister went on to urge Sudan’s warring factions to lay down their weapons “to end the bloodshed” and allow the safe passage of Brits out the country.
Around 25 UK nationals were understood to be trapped inside the embassy before the operation.
But hundreds of other Brits are feared to still be in Sudan – with no further evacuation efforts planned, The Times reports.
Deputy PM Oliver Dowden urged UK nationals to “stay indoors and stay safe” as the fighting continues to rage.
British – Sudanese woman Rozan Ahmed said and her and her family have gone “numb” with fear.
“I have been hiding under my bed for the last six hours, the area where I stay has been shelled to shreds,” she told Sky News.
“I have heard nothing but explosions and gunfire, and shelling screams for the past six hours.
“On top of that we have to deal with the fact that there are rogue soldiers walking around our streets, randomly raiding our homes, and then we don’t have water.
“I am alive only by the grace of God and by the strength of my surrounding family members who thankfully are also still alive although saying that, we are all mentally devastated.
“I and my family members are terrified to a point where we have gone numb.”
It comes after US special forces evacuated all U.S. government personnel and their dependents, along with a few diplomats from other countries.
A French national was wounded while travelling in evacuation being run by the country’s armed forces.
At least 400 people have died and thousands more have been injured as fighting exploded between the East African nation’s army and paramilitary forces.
The capital Khartoum and the western Darfur region have come under intense fire in recent days.
Shocking images show buildings bombed out and critical infrastructure destroyed as people flee the civil war horrors.
Mr Sunak chaired a COBRA meeting on Saturday to devise a plan to rescue Brits trapped in the war-torn desert kingdom.
It came as hopes of an Eid ceasefire were dashed on Wednesday when both factions failed to lay down arms.
The UN said up to 20,000 people have fled to neighbouring Chad as the fighting has intensified.
Rozan Ahmed and her family have been hiding as the fighting rages[/caption]
A convoy leaving Khartoum advances on a road towards Port Sudan[/caption]
Category: News, World News, Conservative Party, UK Politics
