A drone strike by Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed at least 75 people gathered for worship in a mosque in the besieged city of El Fasher, according to first responders.
The attack, among the deadliest in the city this year, struck the al-Daraja neighbourhood, where many civilians from the famine-stricken Abu Shouk displacement camp had sought refuge after it was overrun by RSF fighters. The Emergency Response Room volunteer group said bodies were pulled from the rubble, with footage on social media showing victims trapped beneath debris.
The RSF has not commented on the incident. The group has been engaged in a brutal conflict with the Sudanese Armed Forces since April 2023. Following the army’s recapture of the capital, Khartoum, in March, the RSF has sought to consolidate control over Darfur, its traditional stronghold.
El Fasher, capital of North Darfur state, remains the last major city in the region under army control and has been under siege for more than a year. Research by Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab indicates the RSF is constructing an earthen barrier around the city to prevent movement in and out. Satellite images released on Thursday showed RSF advances near the Abu Shouk camp and the former United Nations-African Union peacekeeping base, now held by anti-RSF joint forces.
The city has endured months of escalating bombardment, including artillery shelling and drone strikes. Last month, at least 89 civilians were killed in a 10-day period, with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights reporting evidence of possible summary executions. Thirteen more people were killed in shelling last week.
A recent OHCHR report estimates that 3,384 civilians were killed between January and June, nearly 80 per cent of all civilian deaths in Sudan last year. Most fatalities were caused by strikes in densely populated areas, particularly during RSF offensives on El Fasher and the Zamzam and Abu Shouk camps in April. Rights groups have previously documented ethnically targeted killings.
A communications blackout in El Fasher has hampered casualty verification and aid coordination. Speaking at a briefing organised by advocacy group Avaaz, Fatima, an artist and lecturer working with displaced communities, described residents facing “deliberate shelling, rapid deaths, slow deaths, injuries, starvation, disease, intimidation, and other inhumane practices daily”.
Mohammad Duda, spokesperson for Zamzam camp, said civilians were “being forced to hide in buried shipping containers as makeshift shelters” and urged immediate international intervention to avert “a catastrophic humanitarian crisis”.
Avaaz warned that if El Fasher falls, the RSF could carry out ethnically targeted attacks, as reported after the capture of Zamzam earlier this year and in Geneina in 2023.
The conflict in Sudan has created what the United Nations calls one of the worst humanitarian crises of the 21st century, with more than 150,000 people killed, over 14 million displaced, and millions more in urgent need of aid.
