Khartoum: At least 18 civilians were killed and five others injured in an attack by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on a village in North Darfur State in western Sudan, a government official said.
“On Saturday, the RSF militia committed a massacre in Jebel Hilla village east of Um Kadada district in North Darfur,” Ibrahim Khatir, director-general of the state’s health department, told Xinhua, on Sunday denouncing the “organised targeting of civilians by the RSF” as a violation of international law and norms.
He urged the United Nations and other international organisations to intervene to hold the perpetrators accountable, Xinhua news agency reported.
The RSF has not commented on the incident.
Meanwhile, the Command of the Sixth Infantry Division of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) said in a statement that its warplanes launched three airstrikes on Saturday targeting RSF gatherings and movements in the northeastern and southern parts of El Fasher, the capital city of North Darfur, killing more than 40 RSF fighters and injuring many others.
Since May 10, 2024, fierce clashes between the SAF and the RSF have been raging in El Fasher.
The El Fasher Coordination of Resistance Committees, a group involved in war victim relief efforts, said the RSF “deliberately shelled the Zamzam camp on January 12”.
It appealed to international organisations for assistance in evacuating the injured and providing intravenous solutions, blood bags, and medical supplies.
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) announced in a statement on January 13 (Sunday) that between 1,000 and 3,000 families have been displaced from the city of Umm Ruwaba in North Kordofan state due to ongoing clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the RSF for a fifth consecutive day.
El Fasher has been the site of fierce clashes between the Sudanese army and the RSF since May 10 last year. The city serves as a humanitarian operation centre for the Darfur region, utilised by the UN and international aid agencies.
Sudan has been gripped by a devastating conflict between the two sides since mid-April 2023, which claimed at least 29,683 lives and displaced more than 14 million people, either inside or outside Sudan, according to the latest estimates by international organisations.
(IANS)
