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Paramilitary fighters battling to seize control of a country have taken some of the world's oldest mummies hostage.
History buffs are in meltdown after members of the Rapid Support Forces – aka RSF – stormed a museum in Khartoum, Sudan, housing bandaged bodies dating back to 2,500BC.
Police who were guarding them have fled.
READ MORE: Brits trapped in Sudan 'forced to kill their pets to stop animals from starving'
The museum's deputy director Ikhlas Abdellatif (corr) has begged the revolutionaries not to harm the mummies which are priceless and part of the African nation's heritage.
Historians monitoring satellite pictures of the Sudan National Museum have already noticed signs of damage including evidence of burning.
The RSF has been fighting Sudan's army for control of the country for seven weeks.
The mob stormed the museum – housed in a large building on the banks of the River Nile – 72 hours ago.
The district has been the scene of fierce fighting and looting.
The captured mummies are among the oldest and archaeologically most important in the world.
In 2019 the British Museum helped their Sudanese counterparts set up a bio-archaeology lab to conduct research on ancient human remains and other items dating back 12,000 years.
A video posted online – allegedly by an RSF fighter – appeared to be taken inside the lab, according to the Middle East Eye news website.
In a scene that could have come straight from Hollywood films The Mummy or Night At The Museum the soldiers sifted through skeletons declaring `these are all corpses' and go on to say `fear will be buried'.
The museum also contains statues, pottery and ancient murals with artefacts from the Stone Age through to the Christian and Islamic eras.
Roxanne Trioux (corr), part of a French archaeological team that was working in Sudan, said satellite images showed damage outside the museum.
"'We don't know the extent of damage inside,'' she added.
Fighting has continued despite repeated truces including one negotiated by Saudi Arabia and the US to which both sides signed up.
On Friday the United Nations Security Council called on the warring factions – led by rival generals – to cease hostilities to allow humanitarian access.
The war has displaced 1.2 million people inside the country and forced another 400,000 to flee into neighbouring states pushing Sudan to the brink of disaster and raising fears of a wider conflict.
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- Ancient Egypt
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