The U.S. Treasury Department said it targeted two companies linked to Sudan's army and two companies tied to the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces .
Residents said heavy artillery fire could be heard in northern Omdurman and intermittent firing in southern Bahri on Thursday. The senior U.S. official said neither party to the conflict has left peace talks taking place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and that talks were continuing.signed by U.S. President Joe Biden in May - slapped sanctions on Sudan's largest defence enterprise, Defence Industries System, which the Treasury said generates an estimated $2 billion in revenue and manufactures arms and other equipment for Sudan's army.
He added that visa restrictions were imposed on individuals in Sudan, including officials from both the army and the RSF and leaders from the former Omar al-Bashir government. Those hit with visa restrictions were not named.Outside Khartoum, clashes have flared in major cities in the western region of Darfur. A regional rights group said at least 50 people have been killed in the last week in the westernmost city of El Geneina.
However, a curfew was declared in the city earlier this week as the army warned of "sleeper cells" sneaking into the city. Residents say buses have been stopped from entering the city, which is a key evacuation point. Cameron Hudson, a former U.S. official now at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said that while the sanctions targeted companies important to the war effort, they will have little impact on the parties' ability to continue to wage war and are unlikely to be enforced by Russia or the United Arab Emirates, which have ties to the RSF.