Rapid Support Forces in a statement on Wednesday said that “extremist” Sudan armed forces backed by elements of the former regime committed numerous “massacres” against civilians on Monday, and Tuesday of this week.
Bombings and airstrikes by the army targeted marketplaces and residential areas in the capital Khartoum, Bahri, Omdurman and East Nile regions and resulted in at least 104 civilian casualties while leaving hundreds more injured, RSF said.
Military airstrike on a market south of Khartoum left 49 people dead while 13 others were killed in East Nile’s al-Wahda region on Monday. These attacks were followed by airstrikes on a market in East Nile’s Hillat Koko, which killed 20 while attacks in Omdurman left a total of 22 people dead, the group said.
“These brutal massacres committed by the Burhan militia and the terrorist National Congress Brigades, which led to the killing of such a huge number in just two days, constitute a full-fledged war crime that requires strong condemnation from all human rights institutions,” RSF said.
Sudanese group accused the army leader al-Burhan of working with the “remnants” of dictator Omar al-Bashir’s regime, particularly leaders of the National Congress (NC) party which was removed from power during the Sudanese Revolution in 2018.
The group asserts that this “corrupt clique” would “not hesitate to exterminate all segments of the Sudanese society to restore their rule.”
RSF repeated its claim that it is fighting a “terrorist regime” that has ruled Sudan for over thirty years and through the armed forces applied persecution, injustice and murder against the Sudanese people.
The group says former National Congress members who joined the military after the revolution have taken control of the armed forces.
These cliques have provided cover for NC loyalists to be recruited “under the pretext of mobilization” and opened the way for them to resume their political activity under different names and banners.
RSF also accused the military of assisting former regime members to escape from prison and providing shelter, transportation and protection for them.
Following the army bombings on Monday and Tuesday, a medical source and eyewitnesses reported that Sudanese Armed Forces airstrike in South Darfur’s state capital Nyala killed at least 40 people, French media reported on Wednesday.
“Forty civilians have been killed in air strike that hit two markets and a number of the city’s neighborhoods,” said the medical source who asked for anonymity because of security concerns.
War broke out in Sudan on April 15 – four years after a popular uprising ousted dictator Omar al-Bashir. Tensions between the army (SAF) and RSF, which jointly removed him from power in 2021, erupted into fighting over a plan to integrate their forces as part of a transition to civilian rule.
According to the United Nations, since April, approximately 380,000 refugees, predominantly women and children, have sought refuge in Chad due to the conflict. Furthermore, hundreds of thousands have also fled to countries including the Central African Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia, and South Sudan.
