Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces shelled a hospital in North Darfur’s besieged city of El-Fasher. File
| Photo Credit: AP
Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces shelled a hospital in North Darfur’s besieged city of El-Fasher and abducted six women and two children from a nearby displacement camp, rescuers and a medic said on Sunday (August 24, 2025).
El-Fasher, under RSF siege for over a year, is the last major city in western Darfur still held by the army and a flashpoint in the war that erupted in April 2023 between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy and RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.
The Emergency Response Room at the Abu Shouk camp near El-Fasher on Sunday said RSF fighters stormed the site, seizing eight unarmed civilians — six women, a 40-day-old baby and a three-year-old child — and taking them to an undisclosed location.
More than 20 camp residents were missing, the rescuers said, warning the actual number could be higher.
On Saturday (August 23), RSF artillery also hit the emergency and trauma unit of a hospital in El-Fasher, wounding seven people, including a staff member, a doctor told AFP.
The bombardment, which continued into Sunday morning, “caused damage to the emergency department, forcing us to suspend operations”, said the doctor, requesting anonymity for safety reasons.
The hospital is one of only three still functioning in the city.
Since losing Khartoum in March, the RSF has stepped up attacks on El-Fasher and surrounding camps in a bid to tighten its hold on western Sudan where it now controls most of the Darfur region.
Abu Shouk, home to tens of thousands of displaced people, has come under repeated attacks this month.
On Thursday, El-Fasher’s resistance committee — one of hundreds of volunteer groups documenting atrocities during the conflict — said the RSF shelled multiple locations in Abu Shouk killing five members of the same family in a direct strike on their shelter.
The pro-democracy activists, who also coordinate aid in Sudan, said four other people were injured in the deadly strike. Abu Shouk is among three camps outside El-Fasher where famine was declared late in 2024.
The United Nations has warned famine could spread to the city, though a lack of data has so far delayed a possible declaration.
The Emergency Response Room at Abu Shouk said also on Thursday that hunger and disease were resulting in deaths at a rate of seven each week in the camp.
It added critical infrastructure has also collapsed, with 98 percent of the camp’s water facilities out of service due to security threats and fuel shortages.
The conflict, which has killed tens of thousands, has triggered what the UN calls the world’s biggest displacement and hunger crisis. Both sides face accusations of war crimes and using starvation as a weapon of war.
Published – August 24, 2025 09:26 pm IST
