Dozens of civilians have been killed in two days of intense fighting between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group, marking a further escalation in the already brutal 20-month conflict, Al Jazeera reports.
The violence has triggered a humanitarian catastrophe, displacing millions and causing widespread famine.
On Monday, an air strike on a bustling market in Kabkabiya, North Darfur, reportedly killed over 100 people and injured hundreds more, according to the Emergency Lawyers rights group. The attack, which targeted a market approximately 180km west of el-Fasher, the region’s capital, left women and children among the casualties. While the army denied responsibility, claiming the right to target RSF military locations, the RSF offered no immediate comment.
The violence continued on Tuesday with the RSF launching a heavy artillery barrage on an army-controlled area of Omdurman, a city across the Nile from Khartoum. Khartoum Governor Ahmed Othman Hamza reported at least 65 deaths and hundreds of injuries, describing the attack as a “massacre” perpetrated by “the terrorist militia.” Hamza specifically cited a passenger bus struck by a shell, resulting in the deaths of all passengers and leaving 22 victims unrecognizable. A medical source at Al-Nao hospital in Omdurman confirmed receiving 15 bodies from the bus attack, with seven more dying at the hospital. The hospital also treated 45 other injured individuals from various parts of Omdurman.
Further south, the RSF shelled the Zamzam displacement camp in North Darfur, killing five people, according to the Darfur General Coordination of Camps for the Displaced and Refugees. Emergency Lawyers also reported six deaths in North Kordofan state due to an exploding drone that crashed on November 26th.
The UN has expressed grave concern over the escalating violence, warning that nearly 10,000 people are now fleeing across the border into South Sudan daily – a tripling of the rate in recent weeks. The already fragile healthcare system has been decimated, with up to 80% of health facilities in affected areas closed or barely functional. The conflict, which began in April 2023 amid a power struggle between the army and RSF, has already claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced over 11 million people, creating what the UN describes as the world’s largest hunger crisis. A UN fact-finding mission in September reported that both sides have committed abuses that may constitute war crimes.
