1. Skip to content
  2. Skip to main menu
  3. Skip to more DW sites
PoliticsSudan

Sudan: 'Up to 100' killed in RSF attack on village

June 6, 2024

Scores have been killed in a paramilitary attack on a village in Gezira state, a pro-democracy group said. Thousands have died and almost 9 million have been displaced since the start of the conflict.

https://p.dw.com/p/4gizc
Internally displaced people from Gezira state sitting on carpets and eating in thatch home in Gedaref, eastern Sudan
Fighting between the RSF paramilitary and the Sudanese army has millions, including in Sudan's central Gezira stateImage: Ebrahim Hamid/AFP

An attack on a village in central Sudan has killed "up to 100" people, a pro-democracy activist group said on Thursday.

The Madani Resistance Committee said that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attacked the village of Wad al-Noura in the state of Gezira "in two waves."

The RSF began fighting with the Sudanese army led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan in April 2023 over a dispute regarding the planned integration of the paramilitary into the country's regular armed forces.

Thousands have died and almost 9 million have been displaced since the start of the conflict. Last month, the UN warned that 5 million people were at risk of famine.

What else do we know about the reported RSF attack in Gezira state?

The committee said that the Sudanese army had not heeded a request for help.

"The people of Wad Alnoura called on the army to rescue them, but they shamefully did not respond," it said in a statement.

The group said that the attack had caused widespread displacement. They said they were "waiting for a confirmed toll of the dead and injured."

They also shared images of what they called a "mass grave" on social media, with rows of what appeared to be bodies in white shrouds in a courtyard.

In a statement on Wednesday, the RSF said that it had attacked the army and government-aligned militias in the area around Wad al-Noura but did not report any civilian casualties.

The Reuters news agency said it could not verify the death toll due to a social media blackout.

The Transitional Sovereignty Council under Sudan's de facto ruler General Abdel-Fattah al-Burhan condemned the attack and accused the RSF of targeting civilians.

"These are criminal acts that reflect the systematic behavior of these militias in targeting civilians," it said in a statement.

sdi/ab (Reuters, AFP)