Sudan: at least 100 dead in paramilitary attack

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At least 100 people were killed and dozens injured when rapid support paramilitary forces attacked a village in Sudan's Gezira province on Wednesday, officials said.

Women, children and the elderly are among the victims of attacks carried out by the Rapid Support Forces in the village of Wad al-Noura in Gezira, Mini Arko Minawi, the governor of Darfur province, said on X.

A grassroots group created to protect residents of Wad Madani , Gezira's capital, said late Wednesday on social media that the paramilitary force, which has been fighting the Sudanese army for more than a year, used heavy artillery to besiege and attack the village.

The Madani Resistance Committee, which has been threatened and attacked by Sudanese security forces in the past, accused paramilitaries of looting Wad al-Noura during the attacks which it said began Wednesday morning.

In December, Sudanese security forces claimed to have taken control of Wad Madani, about 100 km southeast of the Sudanese capital, Khartoum , and which provides refuge for hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the fighting.

The resistance committee said security forces invaded the village, displacing residents, including women and children, to other parts of al-Manaqil district.

In a statement published on its Telegram channel , the Sudanese transitional government condemned these attacks and called on the international community to hold Sudanese security forces accountable.

“These are criminal acts that reflect the systematic behavior of these militias (RSF) in targeting civilians, looting their property and forcibly displacing them from their areas ,” said the media office of the Sovereignty Council transitional, which was put in place after the ouster of longtime President Omar al-Bashir in 2019.

RSF alleged on The Associated Press was unable to verify the allegation.

The paramilitary group said it attacked three camps west, north and south of Wad-al Noura, clashing with the Sudanese army.

“Our forces will not remain inactive in the face of any movement or gathering of the enemy and will work to pursue and defeat them ,” the RSF said in its statement.

The war between the RSF and the Sudanese army has ravaged the country, with clashes spreading to many towns and pushing the population to the brink of famine. More than 14,000 people were killed and thousands injured. Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced.