An attack on an open market in the Sudanese city of Omdurman by Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary group fighting against the country’s military, killed some 54 people and wounded many more, the health authorities said.
The attack by the Rapid Support Forces, RSF, on the Sabrein Market on Saturday also wounded at least 158 others, the Health Ministry said in a statement. It was the latest in a series of deadly attacks in the escalated civil war that has wrecked the northeastern African country.
There was no immediate comment from the RSF.
Khalid al-Aleisir, minister of culture and government spokesperson, condemned the attack, saying that the casualties included many women and children. He also said the attack caused “widespread destruction to private and public properties.”
“This criminal act adds to the bloody record of this militia,” he said in a statement. “It constitutes a blatant violation of international humanitarian law.”
Sudan’s Doctors Syndicate condemned the RSF’s attack. It said one shell hit meters away from al-Naw hospital, which received most of the market casualties.
It said most of the bodies taken to the hospital were of women and children, adding that the hospital has a significant shortage of medical teams, especially surgeons and nurses.
One survivor of the market attack said that the “The shells hit in the middle of the vegetable market, that’s why the victims and the wounded are so many.”
The conflict in Sudan started in April 2023 when simmering tensions between the leaders of the military and the RSF exploded into open fighting in the capital, Khartoum, and other cities across the sprawling northeastern African country.
CNN/Shakirat Sadiq
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