According to local activists, shelling by Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces killed 10 civilians while injuring 20 others inside North Darfur’s besieged capital, El-Fasher, on Wednesday. The bombardment targeted parts of the city, where Saudi Hospital was located as part of the wider human rights crisis unfolding in this region.
The Saudi Hospital, one of the most important medical facilities, was attacked after a previous attack on December 13, which had already caused extensive damage. In the earlier shelling, RSF fire killed nine people and temporarily forced the hospital to close. The hospital’s emergency department was destroyed in the latest assault, according to an anonymous doctor quoted by AFP.
El-Fasher, a city of two million people, has been under siege by the RSF since May. The city remains a critical battleground in the 20-month conflict between the RSF and Sudan’s regular army, which struggles to hold its ground in Darfur. The army controls a small area in the north and east, but the RSF holds most of Darfur, Kordofan, and other central regions.
The attack on the hospital was just one of those carried out last week with an airstrike on the market in North Darfur that killed over 100 people, worsening the conflict that has displaced millions of people and caused tens of thousands of deaths. During the conflict, both sides-the RSF and army-have been accused of carrying out attacks on civilian infrastructures, including medical institutions. The United Nations has termed it as one of the most catastrophic humanitarian crises in the world.
