Sudanese paramilitary group kills 43 in mosque drone strike, local medical group says
Drone attack in El Fasher targets civilians inside a mosque, raising fears amid Darfur fighting.
A Sudanese paramilitary group killed 43 civilians inside a mosque in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, early Friday, according to the Sudan Doctors Network. The doctors group said the strike was carried out by the Rapid Support Forces, describing the drone attack as a heinous crime against unarmed civilians that showed the group’s blatant disregard for humanitarian and religious values and international law.
Resistance Committees in El Fasher, a group comprised of local residents and human rights activists who track abuses, posted a video Friday reportedly showing parts of the mosque reduced to rubble with several bodies scattered on the site. The Associated Press could not independently verify the footage. No details were shared about the exact location of the mosque, and the latest drone strike is part of a series of attacks over the past week as the RSF and the army have clashed in El Fasher.
The latest strike comes as fighting between the army and the RSF intensified in El Fasher, which has been the military’s last stronghold in Darfur. Residents reported loud explosions and drone activity on Thursday in the western and southern parts of the city, according to the Darfur Victims Support Organization, which monitors abuses against civilians. The Resistance Committee in El Fasher said in a statement that the RSF targeted several unarmed civilians, including women and older adults, in displacement shelters in the city. It also said heavy artillery by the RSF continued to target residential neighborhoods on Wednesday.
Since the 2023 escalation that expanded Sudan’s conflict into a civil war, the fighting in Darfur has drawn international concern. The World Health Organization has estimated that the war has killed at least 40,000 people and displaced as many as 12 million across Sudan, with Darfur repeatedly bearing the brunt of the violence. El Fasher has been at the epicenter of the fighting for more than a year, underscoring the fragile humanitarian situation as clashes persist.