Loud explosions rock Sudan capital

Loud explosions have again rocked greater Khartoum, as fighting between Sudan's warring generals showed no let-up despite talks in Saudi Arabia.

"We were woken by explosions and heavy artillery fire," one resident of Khartoum's sister city of Omdurman told AFP on Wednesday.

During the night, two huge explosions were heard across greater Khartoum, residents of multiple districts said.

The warring generals -- regular army chief Abdel Fattah al Burhan and paramilitary commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo -- sent negotiators to Saudi Arabia on Saturday for what US and Saudi mediators billed as "pre-negotiation talks".

But there was still no announcement of any progress in the talks in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah.

Earlier this week, a Saudi diplomat acknowledged that a permanent ceasefire was not even on the table as each side "believes it is capable of winning the battle".

The top UN aid official, Martin Griffiths, has left Jeddah after he "proposed a declaration of commitments for the two parties to guarantee the safe passage of humanitarian relief," a UN spokesman in New York said Tuesday.

More than 750 people have been killed since the fighting erupted on April 15, the majority of them civilians.

Nearly 150,000 refugees have crossed into neighbouring countries, while 700,000 people have been displaced inside Sudan.