The conflict has caused widespread clashes, looting and shortages of food and medicine in Khartoum and other cities, driving more than 5 million people from their homes.

While the RSF has fanned out across residential areas, the army has used its advantage of heavy artillery and air strikes to try to push them back, resulting in hundreds of civilian casualties.

After the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces circulated a video of its soldiers claiming to have entered the base and captured tanks, army sources say they managed to drive them out.

Mazlan Ali says it does not necessarily follow that the army would support a defence minister from Barisan Nasional.

The civil service is traditionally seen as a government vote bank, but its direction of support remains to be seen.

Conflict between the army and the RSF has brought daily clashes to the capital, triggering ethnically-motivated killings in the western region of Darfur, threatening to drag Sudan into a protracted civil war.

Paragliding instructor Ikhwan Azillah tells of the early days of the activity in Malaysia and his hope for the future.

Ikhwan Azilah was once part of the Royal Malay Regiment but has been running a paragliding business since his retirement in 2005.

The military has deployed thousands of troops to the state bordering Myanmar, issued 'shoot-at-sight' orders in 'extreme cases', imposed curfews and cut the internet.

The soldiers were part of a group deployed to search for a pilot for the Indonesian airline Susi Air who was kidnapped by the rebels at Nduga airport in February.

Mohamad Hasan however acknowledges the low percentage of non-Bumiputera recruits.

The incident occurred in the base's barracks and was 'not a terror attack', police say.