A man scoops up portions of wheat at the Gendrassa Refugee Camp.
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Alamy
A shelling and drone attack by the Sudanese paramilitary forces has hit a shelter in a besieged city in the Darfur region, killing at least 53 people, a doctors’ group said.
The Sudan Doctors’ Network, a group of medical professionals tracking the war, said at least 14 children and 15 women were among the dead in the attack by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on the city of el-Fasher.
The attack also left 21 people wounded, including five children and seven women, the group said.
Most of the wounded suffered serious injuries, it added.
The attack targeted al-Arqam Home, a shelter for displaced families in el-Fasher, the provincial capital of North Darfur, the group said.
The shelter is located at the Omdurman Islamic University.
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Protesters hold a banner that says to ‘Lift the siege of El-Fasher’.
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Alamy
“This massacre represents a continuation of the scorched-earth policy practised by the Rapid Support Forces against civilians, in flagrant violation of all international norms and laws,” the medical group said.
The RSF did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
‘Act of genocide’
The Mashad Organisation, a rights group, described the attack as “one of the most atrocious massacres” since the RSF began its offensive on the city more than a year ago, and said it amounted to an “act of genocide carried out before the eyes of a silent world”.
El-Fasher has for months been the epicentre of the war between the Sudanese military and the paramilitaries.
Cholera infected patients receive treatment in the cholera isolation centre at the refugee camps of western Sudan, in Tawila city in Darfur.
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Getty
The city is the military’s last stronghold in Darfur and has been under siege for more than a year.
The paramilitaries, who have regularly bombed the city, imposed a total blockade in July, trapping hundreds of thousands of people.
The UN and other aid groups warn that 260,000 civilians remain trapped in the city after most of its population fled RSF attacks on the city and its surroundings.
El-Fasher is suffering with hunger and disease outbreaks, including cholera, according to the UN.
Sudan plunged into chaos when simmering tensions between the military and the RSF exploded into open fighting in April 2023 in Khartoum and elsewhere.
The fighting has turned into a full-fledged civil war that has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced more than 14 million people from their homes and pushed parts of the country into famine.
The devastating conflict has been marked by atrocities including mass killings and rape, which the International Criminal Court is investigating as war crimes and crimes against humanity.