Sudanese medical group accuses paramilitary force of killing 27 in attack targeting civilians

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CAIRO (AP) — A humanitarian organization on Friday accused forces affiliated with a Sudanese paramilitary group of targeting civilians in an area of Sudan free of any military presence during a major Muslim holiday, killing 27 people, among them elderly people.

Sudan Doctors Network, a group that tracks violence across the country, blamed forces affiliated with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces for carrying out the attacks on Thursday on villages in al-Murrah area located west of Barah town in North Kordofan.

It said the attacks worsened already “catastrophic humanitarian conditions that citizens are enduring due to the ongoing war."

A full-scale war erupted in April 2023 after long-simmering tensions between the army and the Rapid Support Forces escalated. The Kordofan region has become one of the conflict’s main epicenters, with fighting intensifying on several fronts, including through drone warfare.

The paramilitary RSF and its allies control the western Darfur region and areas in the Kordofan region along the border with South Sudan — both regions rich in oil fields and gold mines. The RSF also repeatedly clashed with the army over Barah.

Thursday's attacks were carried out during the second day of Eid al-Adha or “Feast of Sacrifice,” an Islamic holiday celebrated by millions of Muslims around the globe.

The doctors' network said in its statement that “targeting villages and civilian areas and liquidating citizens in this horrific manner constitutes a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law.”

North Kordofan's governing administration condemned the attacks in a statement on Friday and said that “such crimes will only increase the citizens’ unity behind the armed forces in defense of the security and stability of the state and Sudan in general.”

Earlier this month, intense clashes in southern Sudan in South Kordofan between forces linked to the rebel group Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North and the Otoro tribe killed over 61 people, including nine children. Last week, a drone strike on a bustling market in central Sudan killed 28 people and wounded dozens more.

The war in Sudan broke out in April 2023 after long-simmering tensions between the army and RSF erupted into a full-out war. The conflict has killed at least 59,000 people, displaced some 13 million, and pushed many parts of the country into famine. More than 30 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance.

Both of Sudan’s warring sides have been accused by the United Nations and rights groups of committing atrocities, including ethnic cleansing, extrajudicial killings and sexual violence against civilians. Aid groups say the true toll could be much higher as access to areas of fighting across the vast country remains limited.