ISTANBUL 

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) killed civilians based on their ethnicities and plundered health facilities in El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, western Sudan, a local medical group said on Monday.

“In a heinous massacre committed by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) yesterday evening in El Fasher—adding to their widespread crimes across El Fasher and the Darfur region—the RSF killed unarmed civilians on ethnic grounds in what amounts to an act of ethnic cleansing,” the Sudan Doctors Network said in a statement on US social media company X.

The network said that dozens of people were killed by the RSF on Sunday, according to reports from its field teams.

“It remains difficult to access the affected areas due to the complete security collapse caused by the RSF,” the statement added.

Heavy clashes erupted between the rebel group and the Sudanese army in the city on Sunday, according to the civilian-led El-Fasher Resistance Committees.

El-Fasher has witnessed fierce fighting for weeks between the army and the RSF, following a multi-front assault by the paramilitary group, which has surrounded the city from five directions in an attempt to seize control of it due to its strategic importance.

The RSF has been besieging El-Fasher since May 10, 2024, as the Sudanese army seeks to break the siege of the city, which serves as the humanitarian operations center for the five Darfur states.

The army and the RSF have been fighting since April 2023, which has killed thousands of people and displaced millions of others.