Drone strike kills at least 60 at displacement shelter in El Fasher, Sudan
Drone strike kills at least 60 at displacement shelter in El Fasher, Sudan
RSF drone and artillery attack hits Dar al-Arqam displacement centre within a university grounds, fueling fears amid a worsening Darfur crisis.
At least 60 people were killed when a drone strike and artillery attacks hit the Dar al-Arqam displacement centre in El Fasher, in western Sudan, according to a local activists’ group. The shelter sits on the grounds of a university, and the resistance committee for El Fasher said the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) were responsible for the assault. It described the strike as a massacre and appealed to the international community to intervene. The committee said the displacement site had been struck twice by drones and eight times by artillery shells on Friday and Saturday. In a separate report, the Sudan Doctors’ Network put the toll at 53 dead, including 14 children and 15 women, underscoring the chaotic conditions and the difficulty of verifying casualties amid ongoing fighting. El Fasher has been under RSF siege for more than 500 days and remains the last Darfur state capital not under RSF control. The city, home to about 400,000 people, has faced starvation as aid access has been limited and basic services deteriorated. Families are crowded into shelters and camps, trying to survive amid a brutal campaign to consolidate control in the west, even as food and water shortages bite deeper. The violence occurs within a broader humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan, described by the United Nations as one of the worst crises of the 21st century. The conflict has left more than 150,000 people killed and over 14 million displaced, with nearly 25 million people facing acute hunger. Across the country, fighting and siege conditions have disrupted aid deliveries, heightening the risk to civilians caught in the crossfire as international diplomacy struggles to find a path to peace. The attack in El Fasher highlights the urgent need for humanitarian access and protection for civilians amid the ongoing fighting between RSF forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces, with international observers calling for restraint and accountability as the crisis shows no clear end in sight.
