Paramilitary forces battling Sudan’s army for more than a year claim to have taken over a key state capital in the country's southeast.

“We have liberated the 17th Infantry Division from Singa [the capital of Sennar state],” announced the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on X on Saturday.

Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan reports from Khartoum that the RSF is gaining control of territories across Sudan, particularly in the east and west of the south:

Millions displaced

The conflict in the country with a population of 48 million has led to tens of thousands of deaths, millions of displacements, and one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

The RSF advancing towards Port Sudan on the Red Sea, where the army, government, and UN agencies are based, controls various regions in Sudan.

Sennar state, housing over a million displaced Sudanese, links central Sudan to the southeast under army control.

Reports indicate thousands of displaced persons on the east bank of the Blue Nile river east of Singa.

RSF forces target the town of el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state.

Nearly 26 million people are facing severe food insecurity in Sudan as per a global hunger monitor.