Witnesses reported "clear signs of destruction on the Shambat Bridge" which crosses the White Nile and connecting Khartoum's sister cities of Khartoum North and Omdurman.
Images posted online, which AFP was unable to immediately verify, showed a section of the bridge about halfway across the river had disappeared. Vehicles, apparently damaged, lay on the part of the bridge still standing.
The army, led by Sudan's de facto ruler Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, said in a statement that "the rebel militia destroyed the Shambat Bridge early this morning... adding a new crime to their record."
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by Burhan's former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, denied the accusation.
"The Burhan terrorist militia [...] destroyed the Shambat Bridge this morning, thinking that they could defeat our brave forces," the RSF claimed in a statement.
In August, airstrikes and artillery fire launched by army forces loyal to Burhan hit the Shambat Bridge.
Their paramilitary rivals had used the bridge as a supply route, a local resident and a military expert told AFP.
Since April 15, Sudan has been plagued by clashes between the country’s national army and the paramilitary RSF. The conflict stems from disagreements between General Abdel Fattah Burhan, head of the Sudanese Sovereignty Council and commander of the armed forces, and his deputy and former ally, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
General Dagalo accused General Burhan of being reluctant to transfer power to the civilian government. In October 2021, both leaders led a coup against the interim civilian government of Dr. Abdalla Hamdok.
The ongoing crisis has led to a severe humanitarian situation, with nearly 6 million people displaced and thousands of lives lost. The capital, Khartoum, has been severely damaged, and ethnic violence has erupted in the states of the western region of Darfur.