Some 280 people were killed and 160 others were injured in clashes in the city of El Geneina, West Darfur, on Friday and Saturday, following an attack by an armed militia dressed as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), according to the Sudan Doctors Syndicate.
The medical syndicate said in a statement yesterday that “the city of El Geneina is going through the worst and most violent clashes since the beginning of the attacks on April 23 in the city.”
“It is difficult to count the victims, and we managed to count, by relying on medical and legal sources in the city, 280 dead and over 160 wounded during May 12 and 13,” it added.
The medical syndicate explained that “militias wearing Rapid Support Forces uniforms invaded the city, riding in on vehicles and motorcycles, and fierce battles took place between these forces and armed groups made up from the city’s citizens, which led to hundreds of casualties among civilians and on both sides.”
“For the third consecutive day, Sunday, the gunfire, shelling and fires continue after the attack on several neighbourhoods in the city of El Geneina,” it added.
The medical organisation called on the international community, the US and the African Union to “impose a ceasefire, provide the required support, and do what is expected of them regarding the displaced and protect civilians.”
“The coup forces [referring to the army] and the remnants of the ousted regime attacked with heavy artillery and tanks, a number of residential neighbourhoods in the city of El Geneina in West Darfur state on Sunday, killing 20 people and injuring dozens.”
The statement added: “The indiscriminate artillery shelling destroyed a number of facilities.”
On 27 April, the Sudan Doctors Syndicate announced that dozens of people were killed and injured as a result of the violence in the city of El Geneina, in the west of the country.
A day earlier local media reported that “at least 90 people were killed during 3 days of violent fighting in El Geneina, between the army and the Rapid Support Forces, which turned into a conflict between the Masalit tribe and Arab tribes. Heavy weapons were used.”
On the same day, the UN expressed its concern about looting and violence that began to take on a tribal nature, it said, in the city of El Geneina.
Since 15 April, major clashes have broken out in a number of Sudanese cities, including El Geneina, between the army led by Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, killing and wounding hundreds, mostly civilians.
READ: Khartoum region under bombardment as Sudan’s rivals talk
Montather Rassoul