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STORY: This is one of Sudan's main landmarks in Khartoum.

It has now been reduced to a smouldering wreck amid heavy fighting between rival military factions.

The Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company head office, a glass-sided tower topped with a coil of metal, was built during an oil boom before South Sudan declared independence in 2011.

It was one of Sudan's most costly constructions.

The building is located close to areas fought over by Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

Videos released by the RSF on Sunday (September 17) showed flames and smoke rising from the building in a financial district of the capital.

It is unclear what caused the fire that burned through the tower from Saturday (September 16).

The RSF accused the army of targeting it along with other important buildings,part of an effort to dislodge paramilitary fighters from positions they occupied across the capital early in the conflict.

Sudan's foreign ministry, which is aligned with the army, released a statement on Monday accusing the RSF of setting fire to "a number of major economic institutions and commercial buildings" over the past two days, but did not specifically refer to the tower.

The war between the army and the RSF broke out in mid-April when tensions linked to an internationally-backed plan for a political transition boiled over, four years after long-time ruler Omar al-Bashir was overthrown during a popular uprising.

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.