Sudan’s army is close to taking control of the Presidential Palace in Khartoum from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, state TV reported on Thursday, in a significant milestone in a two-year-old conflict that threatens to fracture the country.

Extraordinary scenes of jubilant soldiers waving flags at Khartoum's presidential palace have suggested this could be a turning point in Sudan's bitter two-year civil war. But RSF militia are fighting back and the future remains unpredictable.

The Sudanese army seized full control of the presidential palace in downtown Khartoum on Friday, it said in a statement, in what would be a major gain in a two-year-old conflict with a rival armed group that has threatened to partition the country.