KHARTOUM, Sudan / ISTANBUL

Some 3,200 civilians were displaced from several villages in Sudan’s North Darfur state over the past three days due to worsening insecurity, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Thursday.

The UN agency said that its Displacement Tracking Matrix field teams estimated that 3,200 people fled multiple villages in the Karnoi locality of North Darfur between Jan. 11 and Jan. 13 as violence escalated in the area.

The agency said the displacement affected 12 villages, including Furawiya, Hangala, Koro and Gharsalba.

Most of the displaced crossed westward toward the border with Chad, it added.

IOM said the situation remains highly volatile and tense and that it will continue to closely monitor developments.

On Monday, the organization reported that more than 8,000 people were displaced in a single day, Jan. 9, from North Darfur as insecurity worsened in the area.

The same day, armed groups aligned with the Sudanese army said that 19 people were killed in a large-scale ground attack by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on the Jargira area in North Darfur.

Of Sudan’s 18 states, the RSF now holds all five in the Darfur region, except for a few northern areas of North Darfur still under army control. The Sudanese army continues to dominate most of the remaining 13 states across the south, north, east, and central regions, including the capital, Khartoum.

The bloody conflict between the army and the RSF, which began in April 2023, has killed thousands of people and displaced millions of others.