At least 60 people were killed in a drone and artillery attack on a displacement camp in al-Fashar, western Sudan, on Saturday, local activists said.
The barrage was one of the deadliest attacks by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since they began besieging the city 18 months ago.
What is happening in El-Fashar, North Darfur?
The El-Fashar Resistance Committee said the RSF attacked the Dar al-Arqam displacement center on university grounds twice with drones and eight times with artillery shells.
“Children, women and the elderly were brutally killed and many were completely burnt to death,” it said. The committee had initially reported 30 deaths but later the death toll was increased as bodies were pulled from the debris.
El-Fashar, the capital of North Darfur, is the last major city in the region still under military control. The RSF, which has been fighting the army since April 2023, is trying to regain full control of Darfur. The United Nations says the war has killed thousands, displaced millions and left about 25 million Sudanese people facing severe hunger.
Local activists say the city has become an “open-air morgue”. Approximately 400,000 civilians are stranded and facing starvation and disease as food supplies disappear. The animal feed that families used to survive now costs hundreds of dollars per bag, and most kitchens have closed.
Appeal to stop attacks on hospitals
Hospitals are also being attacked continuously. On Thursday, 13 people were killed in an artillery attack on a mosque sheltering displaced families, and between Tuesday and Wednesday, 20 more were killed when shells hit el-Fashar hospital. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for immediate protection of medical facilities and humanitarian access.
UN rights chief Volker Turk said on Friday he was “appalled” by the RSF’s repeated attacks on civilians, hospitals and mosques, calling them a clear violation of international law. “Instead they continue to kill, injure and displace civilians… This must end,” he said.
The United Nations estimates that 80% of people in need of medical care in El Fasher can no longer get it. Last month, at least 75 civilians were killed in a single drone strike on a mosque. More than one million residents have fled since the war began – about 10% of Sudan’s total displaced population.
Civilians say they now spend most of their time in backyard bunkers to escape the daily bombardment. Analysts have warned that if El-Fashr falls, the RSF will gain full control of the Darfur region and consolidate its parallel administration, leaving Sudan’s forces confined to the north, center and east of the country.
Edited by: Sam Dusan Inayatullah