Leaked Intelligence Details Sudan's Alleged Chlorine Chemical Weapons Program

Sudanese military officials, including army chief Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, have consistently denied that the government developed or deployed chemical weapons during the country's ongoing civil war. However, a newly leaked dossier of nearly 150 internal documents, text messages, and videos obtained from the phones of senior officers outlines a covert program to manufacture and test chlorine-based munitions in 2024.[1][2]

The intelligence files, reviewed by multiple news organizations and shared by Middle Eastern security officials, detail a six-month effort by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) to weaponize chlorine gas. The records indicate that the military sought to break a strategic stalemate against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) during the battle for control of Khartoum.[1][2][4]

According to the documents, the program was spearheaded by Brigadier General Tariq Hussein, who proposed combining explosives with approximately 15 kilograms of chlorine gas. The blueprints describe a "dual-effect" munition designed to inflict casualties through both conventional shrapnel and toxic exposure, targeting entrenched enemy positions.[1][2][4]

The dossier includes accounts of a prototype weapon being tested in the desert in July 2024. Following a test flight from Merowe Airport in northern Sudan, an intercepted message from Hussein allegedly reported that the trial "went 100 percent." By October 2024, the military had reportedly manufactured nearly 300 of these chemical munitions, storing the majority at the Merowe air base.[2][4]

The intelligence also raises questions about the origins of the chemical agents. The records suggest that some of the chlorine was diverted from the Al-Manara civilian water-treatment facility in Omdurman, while additional supplies were reportedly imported across the border from Egypt.[2][4]

The deployment of these weapons allegedly occurred in September 2024, with reports indicating that chlorine bombs were used against RSF positions near the Al Jaili oil refinery and the Garri Military Base north of Khartoum. One intercepted text message, sent to an SAF officer involved in the airstrikes, included a video of a victim with charred skin and the caption, "Your cooking."[1][3]

The leaked communications suggest that the program was known at the highest levels of the Sudanese military. Messages involving Gen. al-Burhan indicate he had direct knowledge of the effort and subsequently ordered a cover-up after the United States detected the program. In September 2025, an officer reportedly assured al-Burhan that a military base had been "emptied of traces and residue."[1][2][4]

The United States had previously imposed sanctions on Sudan and Gen. al-Burhan in early 2025 over allegations of chemical weapons use, though Washington did not publicly release its evidence at the time. The Sudanese military responded by forming an internal investigative committee, which ultimately claimed to find no evidence of chemical contamination.[1][2][4]

While chemical weapons experts and intelligence officials who reviewed the dossier found the materials highly credible, they cautioned that definitive proof requires independent on-the-ground investigations and physical sampling. Access to the suspected sites remains blocked by the ongoing hostilities, leaving the full scope of the chemical program unverified by international inspectors.[1][2]