US evacuates personnel from Sudan amid fighting

The U.S. military has evacuated embassy personnel and their families from Sudan, as fighting continues between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary group.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a late night statement confirming that the U.S. Embassy in the city of Khartoum was temporarily suspended and they had “safely evacuated all U.S. personnel and their dependents.”

“Suspending operations at one of our embassies is always a difficult decision, but the safety of our personnel is my first responsibility,” Blinken said. “The widespread fighting has caused significant numbers of civilian deaths and injuries and damage to essential infrastructure and posed an unacceptable risk to our Embassy personnel.”

“I applaud the skill and professionalism of our team on the ground, U.S. military forces, and others across the government who carried out this evacuation mission,” he added.