At Least 56 Killed as Intense Fighting Erupts in Sudan

Ongoing clashes in Sudan have left at least 56 people dead, escalating the humanitarian crisis and raising international concerns over regional stability.

According to a medical source and Sudanese activists, at least 56 people were killed in greater Khartoum on Saturday due to artillery shelling and air strikes.

Since April 2023, Sudan’s regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been engaged in a power struggle. This conflict has escalated recently as the army strives to regain control of the capital.

On Saturday, RSF shelling resulted in 54 deaths and left 158 injured at a bustling market in army-controlled Omdurman, part of the greater Khartoum area. This incident overwhelmed Al-Nao Hospital in the city, as reported by a medical source and the health ministry.

One survivor told AFP, “The shells struck the center of the vegetable market, which is why there are so many casualties and injuries.”

The RSF stated that they did not conduct the attack.

On the other side of the Nile in Khartoum, two civilians lost their lives and many others were injured during an air strike targeting a region under RSF control. This information was reported by the local Emergency Response Room, which is one among hundreds of volunteer organizations managing emergency care throughout Sudan.

While the RSF has employed drones for attacks, including those on Saturday, fighter jets of the regular armed forces continue to hold a monopoly on air strikes.

The RSF and the army have frequently faced accusations of targeting civilians and indiscriminately shelling residential areas.

Besides resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands, the war has displaced over 12 million people and severely damaged Sudan’s fragile infrastructure, rendering most health facilities non-operational.

A volunteer at Al-Nao Hospital informed AFP that the facility was experiencing critical shortages of “shrouds, blood donors, and stretchers for transporting the wounded.”

The hospital is among the few remaining medical facilities still functioning in Omdurman, and it has faced multiple attacks.

The Sudanese doctors’ union reported that a shell landed “just meters away from Al-Nao hospital” on Saturday.

The union reported that the majority of victims were women and children, urging local nurses and doctors to go to the hospital due to a “critical lack of medical staff.”

The conflict in the capital erupted weeks after the army initiated an offensive throughout central Sudan, capturing Wad Madani, the capital of Al-Jazira state, before targeting Khartoum.

The RSF has continued to control the road between Wad Madani and Khartoum. However, on Saturday, a militia allied with the army announced it had taken over the towns of Tamboul, Rufaa, Al-Hasaheisa, and Al-Hilaliya—located approximately 125 kilometers (77 miles) southeast of the capital.

The Sudan Shield Forces, led by Abu Aqla Kaykal who defected from the RSF last year, has been accused of committing atrocities against civilians both while he was with the RSF and now on behalf of the army.

Sudan continues to be effectively divided, with the RSF holding control over almost all of the expansive western region of Darfur and parts of the south, while the army dominates in both eastern and northern areas.

After months of being at a standstill in greater Khartoum, the army has managed to lift RSF sieges on several bases within the capital this month, including its own headquarters. This action is increasingly pushing the paramilitary forces toward the outskirts of the city.

Witnesses reported that Saturday’s bombardment of Omdurman originated from the western outskirts of the city, an area still under RSF control.

A resident from a neighborhood in the southern part of the city reported hearing rocket and artillery fire on its streets.

Saturday’s bombardment occurred a day after RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo pledged to reclaim the capital from the army.

“We removed them from Khartoum before, and we will do it again,” he told the troops in a rare video address.

For nearly 22 months, Greater Khartoum has been a crucial battleground in the conflict between the army and the RSF, leaving it a shadow of its former self.

A study conducted by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine revealed that 26,000 people lost their lives in the capital between April 2023 and June 2024.

According to the United Nations, entire neighborhoods have been seized by fighters, forcing at least 3.6 million civilians to flee.

Residents who are either unable or unwilling to evacuate have reported constant artillery attacks on residential areas and widespread hunger in besieged neighborhoods blockaded by opposing forces.

According to the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, it is estimated that at least 106,000 people in Khartoum are facing famine. Additionally, another 3.2 million individuals are experiencing critical levels of hunger.

Across the nation, famine has been declared in five regions—primarily located in Darfur—and it is anticipated to affect five additional areas by May.

Before leaving office, former US President Joe Biden’s administration imposed sanctions on Sudan’s army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. The administration accused the army of assaulting schools, markets, and hospitals and using starvation as a weapon of war.

This designation was made a week following Washington’s sanctions on the RSF commander due to his involvement in “gross human rights violations” in Darfur. The State Department stated that his forces had “committed genocide” against non-Arab minority groups there.