KHARTOUM, Sudan/ ISTANBUL

A Sudanese medical group accused the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on Tuesday of killing four people, including a child, in the city of El-Fasher in western Sudan.

In a statement, the Sudan Doctors Network said the four were killed by RSF militants in the Al-Daraja neighborhood in El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, amid dire humanitarian conditions.

“Such violations pose a direct threat to the lives of civilians and violate all international laws that ensure the protection of civilians,” it said, calling for opening safe corridors to evacuate thousands of civilians being held forcibly without access to services, “in the midst of a total communication blackout and the absence of essential services.”

The network also urged the international community and humanitarian institutions to intervene urgently to save civilians and pressure the rebel group “to stop detaining them for ransom and to end the separation of families.”

There was no immediate comment from the RSF on the statement.

On Oct. 26, the RSF seized El-Fasher and was accused of massacres.

The group controls all five Darfur states out of Sudan’s 18 states, while the army holds most of the remaining 13 states, including Khartoum.

The bloody conflict between the Sudanese army and the RSF, which began in April 2023, has killed at least 40,000 people and displaced some 12 million, according to the World Health Organization.