Sudan’s army said Wednesday it had recaptured Khartoum’s international airport, and the military chief flew back to the capital for the first time in nearly two years of war, bringing the military closer to regaining full control of the city from the rival Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group.

The Sudanese army has told the BBC it has recaptured the airport in the capital, Khartoum, from the paramilitary RSF, marking its latest territorial gain in the brutal two-year civil war. Gen Mahomed Abdel Rahman al-Bilawi said troops had fully secured it and might be able to clear the rest of the RSF fighters by the end of day.

A New York Times reporter and photographer were the first Western journalists to visit central Khartoum since the civil war broke out two years ago. The scale of how much has been lost was inescapable.