The army in Sudan says it has captured a key city in the country’s east, one of its biggest gains yet in an almost two-year-long war against rebel forces.

Footage on social media showed people celebrating in the streets as army soldiers entered the city of Wad Madani.

The leader of paramilitary group the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, acknowledged the loss in an audio message.

His admission was angry and rambling, attributing the defeat to the army’s air superiority and use of Iranian-made drones.

But he vowed to continue fighting until victory, even if it took another 20 years.

Wad Madani is the capital of the state of Al Jazira, and is 87 miles (140km) south of the country’s capital, Khartoum.

Wad Madani serves as a strategic crossroads, connecting several states through key supply highways. It is also the closest major town to Khartoum.

Sudan has been ravaged by war since April 2023, when fighting broke out between the RSF and the Sudanese army.

The RSF continues to control nearly all of Sudan’s western Darfur region, as well as significant portions of the country’s south. Meanwhile, the army controls the north and east, as well as parts of Khartoum.

The war has claimed tens of thousands of lives. And in what the United Nations has called one of the world’s “largest displacement crises”, about nine million people have been forced to flee their homes.

The country is also slipping into a famine, with 24.6 million people – about half the population – in urgent need of food aid, experts said.

Earlier this month, the US sanctioned the RSF leader after it accused the group of committing genocide.

Officials said he was being punished for his role in “systematic” atrocities against the Sudanese people during the 20-month conflict.