KHARTOUM, Sudan / ISTANBUL 

More than 60 people were killed in an attack on a shelter in El-Fasher, capital of the North Darfur State, a Sudanese relief committee said Saturday, accusing the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of bombing the site with two drones and more than eight incendiary shells.

The number of civilians killed at the Dar Al-Arqam shelter center has reached more than 60, the El-Fasher Resistance Coordination, a grassroots committee, said in a statement.

The committees said the victims were killed “after Dar Al-Arqam School was targeted by two drones and more than eight incendiary shells, scattering bodies in a scene beyond description.”

There was no immediate comment from the rebel group on the report.

The committee condemned the incident, saying: “Civilians were seeking safety but found burning death instead.”

In an earlier statement, the committee said that among the dead were bodies still trapped under the rubble, adding that others “were burned inside the shelter, including women, children, and the elderly.”

Earlier, Sudan’s Doctors Network said in a statement that 17 children and 22 women were among the fatalities, along with 21 others injured, most of them seriously.

The RSF has imposed a blockade on El-Fasher since May 2024, despite international warnings about the dangers to the city, a hub for humanitarian operations in the five Darfur states.

Since April 2023, clashes between Sudanese army forces and the RSF have killed more than 20,000 people and displaced some 15 million, according to UN and local authorities, while a study by US universities estimates the death toll at approximately 130,000.