Khartoum March 1884, troops loyal to the Mahdi Muhammad Ahmad started a siege of Khartoum, against defenders led by British General Charles George Gordon. The siege ended in a massacre of the Anglo-Egyptian garrison when on 26 January 1885 the heavily-damaged city fell to the Mahdists. On 2 September 1898, Omdurman was the scene of the bloody Battle of Omdurman, during which British forces under Herbert Kitchener defeated the Mahdist forces defending the city. In 1973, the city was the site of an anomalous hostage crisis in which members of Black September held 10 hostages at the Saudi Arabian embassy, five
Khartoum is currently located in the heart of the city. A new international airport is currently being built about south of the city center. There have been delays to start construction because lack of funding of the project but it is expected that the airport will be completed sometime in 2018. It will replace the current airport in Khartoum as Sudan's main airport. Bridges over the Blue Nile connecting Khartoum to Khartoum North: Khartoum has rail lines from Wadi Halfa, Port Sudan on the Red Sea, and El Obeid. All are operated by Sudan Railways. Some lines also extended to some