Rapid Support Forces kill 22 civilians in Sudan's Omdurman city

PORT SUDAN, Sudan

At least 22 civilians were killed Thursday due to artillery shelling by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan’s city of Omdurman, located north of the capital Khartoum.

The local Karari Resistance Committee said in a statement that some residential areas in Omdurman were subjected to intense artillery bombardment by the RSF.

Al-Nao Teaching Hospital reported that 22 civilians were killed and 45 others were wounded due to the bombardment.

It emphasized that the number of dead and injured could increase.

On Wednesday, the RSF stormed a village in Al-Jazira state and killed around 100 people.

The Sudan Sovereignty Council accused the RSF of committing a massacre, while the RSF announced that they had attacked three camps housing army and intelligence personnel and volunteer soldiers.

Clementine Nkweta-Salami, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan, expressed shock at the reports of intense attacks and numerous casualties in the village of Wad Al-Noora in Al-Jazira state.

Salami noted that while the UN does not have all the details of the attack, they have credible reports of heavy weapon use in civilian areas.

She called for a thorough investigation of what happened and for those responsible for these crimes to be held accountable.

Since the war began in mid-April 2023 and spread across most of Sudan's states, the army has maintained control in the northern and eastern states, while the RSF has been active in the western and southern states.

Efforts to end the conflict through talks in Jeddah mediated by Saudi Arabia and the US, a peace initiative led by neighboring countries under Egypt's leadership, the efforts of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development in East Africa and discussions in Bahrain's capital Manama have all failed to yield results.

According to the UN, the conflict in Sudan has resulted in over 16,000 deaths, displaced approximately 8.7 million people and left over 25 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, making it one of the world's largest displacement and hunger crises.

*Writing by Alperen Aktas from Istanbul