Sudan’s armed forces accused of killing hundreds of civilians

By Kielce Gussie 

A Sudanese war monitor, the Emergency Lawyers group, has accused the country's military of killing hundreds of people in an air strike on a market in the western region of Darfur.

Since the brutal civil war began in April 2023, this group has been documenting abuses by both parties: the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The Emergency Lawyers group described the bombing of the Tur’rah market as a “horrific massacre,” which also left hundreds injured.

A spokesperson for the military denied that the attack targeted civilians, saying it was geared at legitimate hostile targets. However, both the RSF and the country’s armed forces have repeatedly been accused of bombing civilian areas.

In the Darfur region of Sudan, the RSF has deployed drones and the army has used warplanes – often shelling RSF positions.

The death toll has not yet been confirmed nor has the exact date of the attack been pinpointed, but the Darfur Initiative for Justice and Peace – a Darfur activist group – stated it took place on Monday. They called it the “deadliest single bombing since the beginning of the war.”

A country at war

In recent months, the civilian death toll as a result of shellings and bombings has been rising as the conflict has escalated.

Around 12 million Sudanese people have fled their homes – a number that is equivalent to the entire population of Belgium or Tunisia. The United Nations has reported that more than half of the country is experiencing “high levels of acute food insecurity.”

The UN also classifies Sudan as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis where at least 150,000 people have been killed in the conflict.