THE number of people displaced inside Sudan by fighting between rival military factions has more than doubled in the past week to around 700,000, a UN agency has said.
The increase in displacements has raised fears of an escalation in violence despite ceasefire talks being held in Saudi Arabia.
Air strikes and ground battles are continuing in the capital Khartoum.
Entire neighbourhoods have become empty as residents flee their homes.
Khartoum had a population of 5.4 million, but the once-peaceful city has been devastated by the conflict that broke out on 15 April between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
On Tuesday, the RSF alleged that a military air strike hit an Ottoman-era palace in downtown Khartoum.
There is no independent confirmation of the RSF’s claim.
Now a museum, the palace was built in 1832 when Sudan was part of the Ottoman Empire.
The palace is next to Sudan’s new presidential palace, which was occupied by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan until the conflict broke out.
Fierce battles have been raging in the area since Monday, but a resident who spoke to the BBC did not know whether the historic palace had been hit.
Other residents said that military fighter jets were flying all over south Khartoum and heavy fighting was taking place in the middle-class neighbourhood al-Sahafa, not too far from the international airport, which is shut.
More than 600 people have now been killed and 5,000 wounded in the conflict.
