At least 16 killed as homes hit in Khartoum air, artillery strikes

Mohamed Mansour, a local resident, told AFP he "helped pull eight bodies" from the rubble of homes destroyed by the blasts.

"Four people were killed in the house next door, including two children," said another resident, Hagar Youssef.

The war that began on April 15 between army chief Abdel Fattah al Burhan and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), has uprooted more than 3.3 million other people from their homes.

Much of the fighting has taken place in densely populated neighbourhoods of the capital Khartoum, where residents on Tuesday reported a renewed RSF attack on the army's ammunition corps in the city's south.

Pro-democracy lawyers said late Monday that civilians in the city's south and centre were again being "forcibly evacuated from their homes, to be used by fighters" as bases.

Mediators from the United States and Saudi Arabia have previously accused the RSF of "occupation of civilian homes, private businesses, and public buildings."

'Catastrophic humanitarian crisis'

For more than three months, millions have been rationing water and electricity in the stifling heat, shielding their families from blasts and unable to reach the few health care facilities still functioning.

The World Health Organization (WHO) warned Tuesday of the "catastrophic humanitarian crisis" facing Sudan, "with more than 67 percent of the country's hospitals out of service."

Health care and aid facilities have themselves frequently come under attack or been looted by both forces.

Fighters have also been accused of rampant sexual violence, reports which the WHO said it was "appalled by".

Alleged sexual and gender based crimes are a focus of a new investigation announced earlier this month by the International Criminal Court into alleged war crimes in Sudan.

The WHO reiterated demands for an urgent response to help prevent outbreaks of disease during the rainy season, which began in June and brought increased reports of malaria, cholera and other water-borne diseases -- particularly in remote areas.

"Outbreaks are likely to claim more lives unless urgent action is taken to halt their spread," said Ahmed Al Mandhari and Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional directors for the Eastern Mediterranean and Africa, respectively.

On Monday, the UN children's agency said it had documented "2,500 severe violations of children's rights - an average of at least one an hour" since the fighting began, with at least 435 children killed and 2,025 injured.