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for the first time using deadly and illegal chemical weapons. Disturbing footage shows troops wearing protective gear as they launch projectiles containing an unknown toxic substance. It's reported that the terrifying weapons have already been used to massacre civilians, with bodies of men, women, and children "piled up" and going unburied.

Tribal leaders in Africa's third-largest country have said the gas attacks are also poisoning the land, turning water purple, and killing livestock. Under the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), the use of poison gas, nerve agents and similar weapons is banned, with signatories committed to destroying any stockpiles.

aid it would impose sanctions on the de facto Government of Sudan after finding evidence it had used the atrocious method of war during the country's brutal two-year civil war.

More than 150,000 have been killed, and 12 million displaced, in fighting between the Sudanese military Government, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the breakaway faction, Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by al-Burhan's former deputy, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.

Up until now, no visual evidence of chemical weapons being used has been shared, but the Daily Express has obtained the first images and video of the Sudanese army forces firing the sickening weapon. Survivors from attacks have spoken of symptoms including extreme diarrhoea and vomiting, a common reaction to deadly nerve agents such as Sarin gas. Those who survived exposure were reportedly too weak to bury the dead for days.

Dr Gony Mustafa Sharif, the Deputy Chairman of the Sudan International Contact Group (SICG), a UK-registered not-for-profit seeking to end the war and highlight abuse in the conflict, told the Daily Express: "This is something that we have always known, the regime has been using chemical weapons. In fact, there is data, or videos, that show they are even bragging about it.

"That's very strange for any legitimate Government, or even any human being, to think like this that it's a good thing to annihilate people by using chemical weapons."

Since the US statement, the Sudanese Government has vehemently denied using such tactics, calling it a "fabricated narrative" and that it was "political blackmail". But Dr Gony continues: "There are hints from al-Burhan and his deputies in speeches about a 'killer weapon', maybe they have to explain to us what they meant?

"The Americans have done their job and come up with this conclusion, it is not speculation (about the use of chemical weapons) anymore."

In footage verified by the SICG, Sudanese military Lieutenant General Yasser al-Atta is filmed during a speech to his forces. he says, "We will use the largest quantity the Commander-in-Chief of the Sudanese Armed Forces (General Abdul Farrah El Burhan) allows of the secret weapon."

In other videos seen by the Daily Express, soldiers wearing air protection and gas masks are seen firing yellow canisters from grenade-launcher type weapons.

After firing the ammunition, it explodes in a huge cloud of pinkish smoke on a sandbank at least 100 metres away, and the soldier turns to the camera and says "Allhu Akbar", meaning "God is greatest" in Arabic.

In another piece of footage, a soldier holds a yellow shell casing to the camera and brags, "We are field doctors, this is anti-sniper medicine".

Perhaps most alarmingly, a tribal leader near a place called Como is filmed telling his congregated kinsmen how the chemicals have poisoned the wells in the region and that many camels died. He says the water colour has changed to purple.

But according to the SICG, the true human cost of life due to chemical weapons is yet to be fully revealed.

In a statement, they said multiple regions had reported attacks since the start of the war.

They said: "In the Wad al-Bashir area, the least that can be described is that it was a human massacre of the living there, to the point that the bodies piled up, leaving people unable to bury them.

"Al-Koma witnessed the largest number of civilian deaths due to the use of chemical weapons. Even livestock were not spared from the annihilation.

"The number of victims in Al-Koma exceeded hundreds, most of them women and children."

At the start of the war in a town called Al-Hilaliya, the SICG said one of the "most heinous crimes was committed"

"The death toll exceeded dozens of women and children", they said, "Al-Hilaliya was the focal point for the heinous and bloodiest crime committed by the army.

"The water in Hilaliya was tested, and samples were taken, marking the beginning of the discovery of the chemical substances the army insisted on using to annihilate the Sudanese people."

In a statement this week, US spokesperson Tammy Bruce said the United States would be restricting exports to Sudan as of June 6. "The United States calls on the government of Sudan to cease all chemical weapons use and uphold its obligations under the CWC", she said.

"The United States remains fully committed to hold to account those responsible for contributing to chemical weapons proliferation."

According to the BBC, nearly every country in the world, including Sudan, has agreed to the CWC, apart from Egypt, North Korea and South Sudan, according to the Arms Control Association, a US-based non-partisan membership organisation.