KHARTOUM, Sudan / ISTANBUL
Four medics were killed and three others injured in artillery shelling by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in South Kordofan, a Sudanese medical group said Sunday.
In a statement, the Sudan Doctors Network said the fatalities occurred in the attack that targeted medical facilities in the city of Dilling in southern Sudan.
The independent network warned that health conditions in Dilling have deteriorated sharply as a result of attacks on health facilities by the RSF and the allied SPLM-N faction.
“Some facilities are now operating with limited resources to cover emergency needs amid continued, systematic shelling,” it said, citing that three major hospitals suspended operations due to RSF attacks: the Medical Corps Hospital, the Main Health Insurance Center, and Dilling Teaching Hospital.
The network warned that the lives of civilians, patients, and medical staff are at risk, holding the RSF fully responsible for what it described as violations of international humanitarian law.
It called on the international community and humanitarian organizations to intervene urgently to protect health facilities and provide immediate medical and logistical support to residents in the city.
There was no immediate comment from the RSF on the statement.
Fighting has intensified in recent weeks across Sudan’s three Kordofan states – North, West and South – where clashes between the two sides have forced tens of thousands of civilians to flee.
Of Sudan’s 18 states, the RSF controls all five states of the Darfur region in the west, except for some northern parts of North Darfur that remain under army control. The army, meanwhile, holds most areas of the remaining 13 states in the south, north, east, and center, including the capital Khartoum.
Sudan’s humanitarian crisis has worsened since the war between the army and the RSF erupted in April 2023 over a dispute on unifying the military establishment, killing tens of thousands and displacing millions.