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At least 38 people have died after drone and airstrikes in Sudan’s North Darfur region as ongoing clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) continue to escalate.
Some background before you read: Back in April of 2023, a civil war erupted in Sudan between the RSF and the SAF. The conflict was sparked by a power struggle after the 2019 ousting of dictator Omar al-Bashir. Disagreements over merging the RSF into the national army and control of the country soon escalated into widespread violence, forcing countless people to flee their homes and plunging Sudan into a severe humanitarian crisis. Both sides have committed horrific acts, particularly in Darfur, where old ethnic tensions have led to the genocide of civilians.
What’s going on now: According to reports from the ground, at least 38 people were killed and over 20 others injured in a drone attack on the Awlad Al-Reef neighborhood in the center of El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur. The paramilitary RSF was accused of carrying out the attack, which involved the use of four high-explosive missiles targeting residential areas. Local resistance committees coordinating aid efforts described the incident as a deliberate strike on civilians, further exacerbating the ongoing violence in the region.
The strike comes after an earlier airstrike earlier in the week on an open-air market in Kabkabiya, a town in North Darfur, which killed more than 100 people, including women and children. The attack, attributed to the SAF, destroyed the bustling marketplace, leading to widespread condemnation from human rights groups, who labeled it a clear war crime. The market strike represents one of the deadliest incidents in the ongoing conflict and underscores the escalating violence that has increasingly targeted civilian areas in the region.
WHO Chief reacts: In a statement, World Health Organization Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called the attacks “deplorable.” He added, “We urge for the protection of all patients and health professionals and for all attacks on and around health facilities to stop.”
