United States officials have said that Sudan’s military used chemical weapons against the paramilitary group it is fighting in the ongoing civil war in the North African country.

Citing four senior American officials, the New York Times reported that the Sudanese army deployed chemical weapons on members of the Rapid Support paramilitary group on at least two occasions.

The American officials are concerned that the weapons could be used in densely populated parts of the capital, Khartoum. The army and the paramilitary group have been at war since April 2023.

Meanwhile, the U.S. government is expected to announce sanctions against the Sudanese military chief, Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, for documented atrocities by his troops, the Times reported.

They are being accused of deliberate bombing of civilians and the use of starvation as a weapon of war.

The U.S. government had in a similar move earlier this year sanctioned the Rapid Support Forces, its leadership for committing genocide in the ongoing civil war in the country — several companies belonging to the group were also sanctioned.