Both sides of the military conflict in Sudan have agreed to a new 72-hour ceasefire. It took effect on Tuesday, but gunshots and shelling continued in the capital, Khartoum.

Each side blames the other for moving troops and attacking in violation of the truce.

Sudan's armed forces say the ceasefire was mediated by the United States and Saudi Arabia.

Past ceasefires have failed as fighting rages between the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

The World Health Organization says 459 people have been killed since the conflict began about 10 days ago.

A doctor in Khartoum told NHK that Sudanese civilians there are dealing with power outages and struggling to access water, medicine and other basic necessities.

Details are emerging about how Japan evacuated 45 people -- Japanese nationals and their families -- from the capital. They traveled by land to the city of Port Sudan.

A bus taking the southern route suffered a flat tire halfway through the trip. One of the evacuees told NHK it turned out to be a very long, extremely tense journey that took 36 hours.

A Japan Self-Defense Force transport plane carried the 45 people to Djibouti. The SDF has a temporary base for anti-piracy operations there.

Another transport plane was unable to land in Port Sudan because there was no space for it to park at the airport. It had to return to Djibouti.

Another 13 people have been evacuated to Djibouti and Ethiopia with help from France or the International Committee of the Red Cross.