Sunday's attack also wounded 36 civilians, half of them children, the doctor at Al-Nao hospital told AFP on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

The bombardment struck residential areas in northern Omdurman, hitting civilians inside their homes and children playing on a football field, the Khartoum regional government's media office said.

The war between the RSF and the army, which began in April of 2023, has escalated in recent months, with army forces seeking to reclaim territory lost to the RSF early in the conflict in the capital Khartoum and beyond.

The army says its units are now positioned less than a kilometre (about half a mile) from the presidential palace, which the RSF seized at the outset of the war.

In a video address shared on Telegram Saturday, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo vowed his troops "will not leave the Republican Palace".

AFP journalists saw thick plumes of smoke rising over central Khartoum as fighting raged across the capital, with gunfire and explosions heard in several areas.

- Intensified fighting -

Nationwide, the conflict has killed tens of thousands, uprooted more than 12 million, and created the world's largest hunger and displacement crises.

In Khartoum alone, at least 3.5 million people have been forced from their homes due to the violence, according to the United Nations.

Further southwest, in the North Kordofan state capital of El-Obeid -- roughly 400 kilometres from Khartoum -- two civilians were killed and 15 others wounded after RSF forces shelled residential neighbourhoods on Monday morning, a medical source at the city's main hospital told AFP.

Last month, the military broke through a nearly two-year RSF siege of the southern city, a key crossroads linking Khartoum to the vast Darfur region, which is under near-total RSF control.

Across North Kordofan, more than 200,000 people are currently displaced, while nearly a million are facing acute food insecurity, according to UN figures.

Clashes have also erupted in Blue Nile state, which borders South Sudan and Ethiopia, and where the RSF claimed Sunday to have destroyed military vehicles and taken prisoners from the army and allied forces.

In almost two years, the war has nearly torn Sudan into two, with the RSF in control of nearly all of Darfur in the west and parts of the south, while the army holds the country's north and east.

The army has made gains in central Sudan and Khartoum in recent months, and appears to be on the verge of reclaiming the entire capital.