'Mutiny': Sudanese gunfire erupts at two intelligence bases of former-Bashir loyalists

Heavy gunfire erupted in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum on Monday, at two bases of the country's feared National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS), causing traffic jams as local reports are calling it a "mutiny" by the elements of the old regime.

There have been no details released on casualties or who began the shooting but it is believed that intelligence officers clashed with the RSF and the army. 

Shooting broke out at the NISS bases on Monday, the powerful security arm of the now ousted Islamist regime of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir.

The bases are situated in the upscale Riyadh district and Khartoum North, an AFP correspondent and witnesses said.

Reports from the city say gunfire at the Riyadh base of NISS, not far from Khartoum Airport, was heavy and sustained.

It was still unclear what triggered the shooting, but all streets leading to the two bases were cordoned off, causing traffic jams.

Security agents of NISS were at the forefront of cracking down on protesters during the nationwide uprising that erupted against Bashir in December 2018.

The army ousted Bashir in April last year, and the country's new authorities have vowed to reform NISS.

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Sudanese people online have already come up with a hashtag, the "#SudanUprising".

This comes just days after Sudan's prime minister paid a historic first visit to a rebel stronghold in the country's south on Thursday, marking a major step in efforts by the transitional government towards peace.

US, UK and Norwegian diplomats joined the Sudanese government delegation led by Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, alongside the chief of the United Nations World Food Programme.

A crowd of tens of thousands of people, including thousands of armed rebels, welcomed Hamdok to the town of Kauda, located around 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) south of the capital in southern Sudan's conflict-torn Nuba Mountains.

In Kauda, Hamdok met with Abdel-Aziz al-Hilu, who leads the powerful faction of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N). The country's largest rebel group, Al-Hilu's movement controls significant chunks of territory in the Blue Nile and South Kordofan provinces.

Sudan's transitional government in October launched peace talks with rebel groups from the country's three conflict zones - Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan.

The rebels have observed a ceasefire since the overthrow of former dictator Omar Al-Bashir in April last year.