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A wave of artillery shelling and air raids devastated parts of greater Khartoum on Saturday, leaving at least 56 dead, according to accounts from a medical source and Sudanese activists.
Sudan’s armed forces and the RSF have been embroiled in a prolonged struggle for power since April 2023, with the latest clashes intensifying as the military attempts to wrest back control of the capital.
RSF shelling targeted a busy marketplace in Omdurman, a military-controlled area of greater Khartoum, on Saturday, killing 54 people and injuring 158. The influx of victims overwhelmed Al-Nao Hospital, according to accounts from a medical source and the health ministry.
The shells exploded in the busiest section of the vegetable market—that’s why so many people were killed or injured, a survivor told AFP. The RSF has since rejected claims that it was responsible for the attack.
Across the Nile in Khartoum proper, two civilians were killed and dozens wounded in an air strike on an RSF-controlled area, said the local Emergency Response Room, one of hundreds of volunteer groups coordinating emergency care across Sudan.
Although the RSF has used drones in attacks including on Saturday, the fighter jets of the regular armed forces maintain a monopoly on air strikes.
Both the RSF and the army have been repeatedly accused of targeting civilians and indiscriminately shelling residential areas.
Read also: Sudanese Army Captures Key City In War Against Rebels
In addition to killing tens of thousands of people, the war has uprooted more than 12 million and decimated Sudan’s fragile infrastructure, forcing most health facilities out of service.
An Al-Nao Hospital volunteer informed AFP about severe shortages of shrouds, blood donors, and stretchers for transporting the wounded.
The hospital is one of the last medical facilities operating in Omdurman and has been repeatedly attacked.
According to the Sudanese doctors’ union, one shell fell “just metres away from Al-Nao hospital” on Saturday.
The union said most of the victims were women and children, and called on nurses and doctors in the area to head to the hospital to relieve a “severe shortage of medical staff”.
The fighting in the capital comes weeks after the army launched an offensive across central Sudan, reclaiming Al-Jazira state capital Wad Madani before setting its sights on Khartoum.
Since then, the RSF has maintained its hold over the road connecting Wad Madani and Khartoum. However, on Saturday, a militia allied with the army announced that it has seized control of the towns of Tamboul, Rufaa, Al-Hasaheisa, and Al-Hilaliya, located approximately 125 kilometers (77 miles) southeast of the capital.
The group, the Sudan Shield Forces, is led by Abu Aqla Kaykal, who defected from the RSF last year and has been accused of atrocities against civilians both during his tenure with the RSF and now on the army’s side.
Sudan is essentially divided, with the RSF largely dominating the extensive western area of Darfur and significant parts of the south, while the army maintains control over the eastern and northern regions of the country.