A drone strike by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on a mosque in the besieged Sudanese city of El Fasher has killed 75 worshippers, according to first responders. The attack hit the al-Daraja neighbourhood, where civilians from the famine-hit Abu Shouk displacement camp had sought refuge after the camp was overrun by RSF fighters.
The Emergency Response Room volunteer group reported that bodies were retrieved from the rubble of the mosque. Social media videos show victims trapped under debris. The RSF has not commented on the incident, which is one of the deadliest in El Fasher this year.
El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, is the last major city in the region under Sudanese army control and has been under siege for over a year. The RSF has been fighting to capture it since the army retook Khartoum in March. Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab has documented RSF building an earthen wall around the city to trap residents.
The attack follows a series of brutal assaults on El Fasher and nearby camps. Last month, at least 89 civilians were killed over a ten-day period, with the UN high commissioner for human rights noting some appeared to be summary executions. A new UN report says at least 3,384 civilians were killed in Sudan between January and June, mostly in Darfur, with artillery shelling and drone strikes in densely populated areas being the primary causes.
El Fasher is under a communications blackout, hindering verification of casualties and aid coordination. Civilians report dire conditions, with many hiding in buried shipping containers as makeshift shelters. Advocacy group Avaaz has warned that if El Fasher falls, the RSF could carry out ethnically targeted attacks, as seen in other areas.
