Sudanese in the capital Khartoum and other towns gathered in their houses for a third day on Monday as explosions and gunfire thundered outside as the army and a potent opposition group fought in the streets for control of the country.

Since the conflict started, at least 185 people have died and more than 1,800 have been injured, according to U.N. envoy Volker Perthes. In heavily populated regions, the two sides are utilising tanks, artillery, and other heavy weapons. As night fell, fighter jets soared overhead and anti-aircraft fire lit up the skies.

The death toll may be substantially higher due to the fact that there are numerous dead in the streets surrounding central Khartoum that are inaccessible due to the fighting. No official statement has been made regarding the number of civilian or combatant deaths. Earlier, the doctors' syndicate estimated 97 civilian fatalities.

The sudden outbreak of violence over the weekend between the nation’s two top generals, each backed by tens of thousands of heavily armed fighters, trapped millions of people in their homes or wherever they could find shelter, with supplies running low and several hospitals forced to shut down.

The power struggle pits General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the commander of the armed forces, against General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the head of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group. The former allies jointly orchestrated an October 2021 military coup.

“Gunfire and shelling are everywhere,” Awadeya Mahmoud Koko, head of a union for thousands of tea vendors and other food workers, said from her home in a southern district of Khartoum. She said a shell stuck a neighbour’s house Sunday, killing at least three people. “We couldn’t take them to a hospital or bury them.”

Just when Sudanese were striving to resurrect the movement for a democratic, civilian government after decades of military control, the violence resurrected the possibility of civil war.