Sudan ceasefire fails as death toll in battle between rival generals for control over the country nears 300

The vicious battle between two Sudanese military commanders for control over the country continued for a fifth day Wednesday, with the fighting raging on despite a planned 24-hour ceasefire. The clash between the generals in charge of the country's armed forces and a massive paramilitary force had claimed at least 270 lives by Wednesday, according to the U.N.'s World Health Organization, and a medical group in Sudan said the majority were civilians.

The Sudan Doctors' Syndicate, a domestic organization which monitors casualties, said Tuesday that at least 174 civilians had been killed and hundreds more wounded, but the real toll from the fighting is likely to be considerably higher as bodies still lay on the streets in major cities where intense fighting continued.

The 24-hour humanitarian truce agreed to by both sides of the conflict never really took hold. Heavy gunfire peppered the capital city of Khartoum almost immediately after it was supposed to have gone into effect Tuesday evening.