Sudan's army says it has recaptured Kazqil and Um Dam Haj Ahmed in North Kordofan — the RSF has not confirmed it
Sudan's army said on Thursday 5 November 2026 that its forces had retaken two areas in North Kordofan state from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) after clashes. The Associated Press named the two areas as Kazqil and Um Dam Haj Ahmed and described footage circulating online of army soldiers celebrating the takeovers; a spokesman for the army-allied Joint Forces, Mutawakkil Ali Wakil, named Kazqil and Abu Qoud instead, so the second area's identity differs by source. Kazqil, south of the state capital el-Obeid, had fallen to the RSF in late October. The RSF had not confirmed the loss in any report read, and the recapture is carried on this page as the army's claim, not as a confirmed change of control.
Checking in progress
This story is still being checked. Claims below are published as claims — never dressed as facts — and each one moves only when the evidence earns it.
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Key points
- The recapture is the army's claim, labelled not yet verified: the RSF has not confirmed losing either area.
- AP names the two areas as Kazqil and Um Dam Haj Ahmed; the Joint Forces spokesman names Kazqil and Abu Qoud — the second area differs by source.
- Kazqil had fallen to the RSF in late October and sits south of el-Obeid, the state capital the RSF is trying to take.
- Kordofan is now one of the war's main battlegrounds, between army-held central Sudan and RSF-held Darfur.
What happened
Sudan's war between the army and the RSF began in April 2023 and is in its fourth year. Fighting in Kordofan has intensified since late 2025, turning the three-state region into one of the war's main battlegrounds, where the two sides' territory meets.
Thursday's claimed gains are part of the fight for el-Obeid, North Kordofan's capital: the army holds the north of the region, the RSF the west, and South Kordofan remains contested, on Al Jazeera's summary of the front. The Joint Forces spokesman said securing Kazqil would help lift the sieges of Dilling and Kadugli in South Kordofan — the allied forces' stated aim, carried as their position.
Claim by claim
Why this label: Labelled not yet verified: this is the army's own announcement (Anadolu Agency's report of it is the queue source), carried by AP with the footage description. A change of territorial control in an active war cannot be verified from the claiming side's statement and celebration footage alone, and the RSF has not confirmed it — see the don't-know list.
On the ladder: the evidence so far sits low — early, single or social sources. We publish the claim as a claim, never as fact.
Why this label: Carried as the Joint Forces spokesman's own statement, read in this run. It agrees with AP on Kazqil and on the fact of Thursday's fighting, but names Abu Qoud where AP names Um Dam Haj Ahmed — so this page does not present the second area as settled, and the headline's pairing follows AP, the wire report.
On the ladder: the evidence so far sits low — early, single or social sources. We publish the claim as a claim, never as fact.
Why this label: Verified as AP's reported background on the place and the front, read in this run; it does not depend on the army's Thursday claim. The Kordofan region — North, West and South Kordofan — is where the two sides' areas of control meet, between army-held central Sudan and RSF-held Darfur.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
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Why this label: Carried exactly as AP frames it — an attribution to the investigators and footage reporting around el-Fasher, not a finding of this page. Vozia's live UK-sanctions story covers the el-Fasher atrocity allegations separately; this claim exists so the Kordofan advance is not read in isolation from the war's documented toll.
On the ladder: the evidence so far sits low — early, single or social sources. We publish the claim as a claim, never as fact.
What we know / what we don't know yet
What we know
- The army announced the retaking of two North Kordofan areas on Thursday, and AP reported celebration footage from the named places.
- Kazqil is agreed by both the wire report and the allied spokesman; the second area is named differently by the two.
- Kazqil changed hands as recently as late October, when the RSF took it.
What we don't know yet
- Whether the army actually holds Kazqil and the second area now, and for how long — no independent confirmation or RSF response had been read.
- The second area's identity as settled fact: Um Dam Haj Ahmed (AP) or Abu Qoud (Joint Forces spokesman).
- Casualty figures for Thursday's clashes — none were published in the reports read, and none are carried here.
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- What the advance means for the sieges of Dilling and Kadugli, which the allied spokesman said it is meant to relieve.
Why it matters
El-Obeid is the hinge between Sudan's army-held centre and the RSF's Darfur west: whoever holds the towns south of it shapes whether the capital of North Kordofan can be supplied or besieged. In a war where both sides announce victories that later reverse — Kazqil itself fell only weeks ago — the honest unit of news is the claim and its evidence, which is how this page carries it.
Background
War begins between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
The RSF takes Kazqil, south of el-Obeid, in North Kordofan.
The army announces it has retaken two areas after clashes; AP names Kazqil and Um Dam Haj Ahmed, the Joint Forces spokesman names Kazqil and Abu Qoud.
Update history
No silent edits. Every change is written here, with its time.
- Latest
Published in Checking state (queue MANUAL 1788 of the 18:09Z scan, 5 Nov). JUDGE AUDIT: (1) headline, slug, SEO title and summary all carry the claim as the army's claim — 'says it has recaptured' — never as a confirmed change of control; (2) the recapture and the allied spokesman's variant are Not yet verified, the place background is Verified on AP, and the el-Fasher passage is carried as AP's attribution; (3) every number (45km, 43km, April 2023, late October) traces to its named source; (4) the RSF's position is absent because none had been published in the reports read — declared in the don't-know list, not silently absent; (5) the second-area disagreement is inside the claims, not smoothed over; (6) photo is a labelled Sudan file photo, probed 200; video check made — the celebration footage is social-channel material, not an official embed, none attached; (7) translations added in all 13 languages in the same run (no FR/AR full text to drop).