(Reuters) -Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces said on Sunday they had captured the army headquarters in the city of al-Fashir, the Sudanese army’s last stronghold in the Darfur region in the west of the country.

The army did not immediately give a statement on its current position.

The RSF has besieged the city, the capital of North Darfur state, for the past 18 months as it fights the army and allied former rebels and local fighters. It has targeted civilians in frequent drone and artillery strikes, while the siege has spread starvation among the city where 250,000 people remain.

Al-Fashir would be a significant political victory for the RSF and could hasten a physical split of the country by enabling the paramilitary group to consolidate its control over the vast Darfur region,

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