Explosions and heavy gunfire rattled the Sudanese capital on a fifth day of fighting Wednesday after an internationally brokered truce quickly fell apart. The cease-fire failure suggested the two rival generals fighting for control of the country were determined to crush each other in a potentially prolonged conflict.

With no sign of respite, desperate and terrified Sudanese who have been trapped for days in their homes by the violence raging on their doorsteps began to flee their homes, witnesses said. Residents of multiple neighbourhoods of Khartoum told the Associated Press they could see hundreds, including women and children, carrying luggage, some leaving by foot, others crowding into vehicles. “Khartoum has become a ghost city,” said Atiya Abdalla Atiya, secretary of the Doctors’ Syndicate, who is still in the capital.