Sudan’s Darfur region has suffered another bloodshed after shelling by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) struck el-Fasher, the last major city still under army control, killing at least 24 civilians, according to the Sudan Doctors Network.
The medical group reported that artillery fire rained down on densely packed neighborhoods, including the city’s central market and Awlad al-Reef, leaving 55 others wounded, among them five women.
El-Fasher has been the center of fierce fighting for more than a year as Sudan’s military struggles to hold its last foothold in Darfur against RSF forces. AP reported that the paramilitary group offered no comment on the latest assault.
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Sudan has been engulfed in civil war since April 2023, when tensions between the military and RSF escalated into all-out conflict in Khartoum and across the country. Since then, el-Fasher has endured repeated attacks, including an RSF rampage in April that tore through famine-stricken camps for displaced families, killing hundreds.
READ ALSO: Sudan: RSF attack in Darfur leaves 13 dead, mostly women and children
The violence has grown increasingly brutal. In August alone, at least 89 people were killed in el-Fasher and surrounding areas during a 10-day RSF offensive, with 16 victims summarily executed, according to the U.N. human rights office.
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Aid agencies warn that the city is facing a humanitarian catastrophe. The RSF’s siege has trapped some 260,000 people, half of them children, cutting them off from relief for more than 16 months. UNICEF described el-Fasher as “an epicentre of child suffering, with malnutrition, disease, and violence claiming young lives daily.” The agency estimates that 6,000 children are severely malnourished and at imminent risk of death.
The broader conflict has claimed more than 40,000 lives, displaced over 14 million people, and pushed communities into extreme hunger, with some families reduced to eating grass. Rights groups and the United Nations have documented atrocities ranging from ethnically targeted massacres to widespread sexual violence.
The International Criminal Court has since opened investigations into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity linked to the conflict.
READ ALSO: Deadly RSF ambush on Sudanese village leaves 7 dead, homes burned
